


In a Crowd of Thousands

by LTHSFICS



Category: Larry Stylinson - Fandom, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Aliases, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst, Fate, Fluff and Humor, Hand Jobs, Happy Ending, Harry Styles in a Dress, London, Louis Tomlinson in a Dress, M/M, Men Wearing Dresses, Mild Smut, Minor Character Death, Missing Prince, Misunderstandings, Modern Royalty, New York City, Officer Louis Tomlinson, Pining, Prince Harry Styles, Princess Gemma Styles, Royal Protection Squad, Running Away, Secrets, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, a bit of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:34:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29638179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LTHSFICS/pseuds/LTHSFICS
Summary: Louis looks at her with doubt. “So, let me get this straight. You want me to go to New York on a gut feeling to try to find your long lost brother who most likely changed his name, and who we have no idea what he looks like?"“Yes.”Louis silently blinks at her a few times before letting out a sigh and pushes himself off the wall. "Fine. I’ve always wanted to go to New York anyway.”ORRPS [Royal Protection Squad] Officer Louis Tomlinson is tasked to find the missing prince of England, Harry Styles, who has been gone for 15 years. Louis eventually ends up traveling to New York to find the lost prince, but instead he finds a fashion designer named Henry Sullivan, who smiles too much and is too kind for this world. After spending time together in the big apple, they start to fall for each other, and Louis begins to think that happy endings might exist. But, everything slowly starts to unravel once secrets are revealed, and they come to realize that happy endings aren't that easy to come by.
Relationships: Harry Styles & Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	1. The Queen's Parade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone I'm back with a new story! I've been wanting to write this plot down for a while now, so I'm so excited to have finally started with it.
> 
> The flashback in this chapter is inspired by the song 'In a Crowd of Thousands' from the Broadway musical 'Anastasia'. If you have time, go and give it a listen. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy this one. 
> 
> (This is also being updated on Wattpad as well, under the same username)
> 
> *REMINDER THAT THIS IS ALL FICTION*
> 
> -DJN

**_June 2002, London [Harry (8) Louis (10)]_ **

It was hot. No breeze in the air, no clouds, just pure heat and the sun shining right over them.

Louis could feel the sweat dripping down his back as he stood there with an exuberant crowd, waiting to get a glimpse of the royal family.

“Mum, can we go? It’s too hot!” Louis shouts, trying to raise his voice louder than the jumbled voices around him.

“I know baby”—Louis’s mom bends down to his height—“but we haven’t even seen the queen yet. Don’t you want to see her?”

“Not really,” Louis grumbles. What was so cool about seeing the queen anyway? He’s seen her plenty of times on the television and her face was even plastered on their money!

His mom gives him a disapproving look. “Louis, this is the queen’s birthday parade. This is tradition, so please be respectful.”

Instead of whining more, Louis just nods his head, trying not to upset his mother any further.

Louis’s mom smiles down at him and brushes his sweaty fringe away from his forehead before shifting her attention over to the pram where his little sister was.

Trooping the Colour was an important event in Britain that officially celebrated the birthday of the British sovereign, or in this case the queen. Louis never understood why the queen needed a whole parade to celebrate her birthday. Couldn’t she just buy a cake and a couple of balloons like everyone else?

There were thousands of people lined up on each side of the road. All of them buzzing with excitement just too probably get a one second glimpse of the queen.

The crowd around him was starting to get louder and he could feel people pushing behind him trying to get a closer look. 

Since they got there a little late, Louis and his family were a few meters from the street where everything was taking place, which meant Louis couldn't see a thing.

He stands on his tip-toes trying to get a glimpse of the action, but it was no use. "Mum! Can you put me on your shoulders like dad used to do?" he asks.

Louis's mom looks down at him with a frown. "Oh honey, I wish I could, but I have your sister." She gestures to the baby cradled in her arms. 

"But, I can't see." Louis pouts. 

"I know Lou, but I'm sure there'll be an opening soon. Just be patient," she tells him and then gets distracted when his sister starts to cry. 

Louis huffs and crosses his arms in front of his chest. "I wish dad was here," he mumbles quietly, so his mother couldn't hear. 

The sound of drums start playing in the air, making Louis more restless, and now he _really_ wanted to go see. Louis looks over at his mother who was still tending to his sister, and makes up his mind.

He searches for any kind of gap through the maze of bodies in front of him and once he sees a clearing he starts pushing his way forward. 

After stepping on some toes and getting yelled at by numerous adults, he somehow manages to make it to the front.

Louis leans forward onto the barricade, and rest his arms on top, watching with excitement as the military passes by.

It was mesmerizing seeing the soldiers march. Louis’s eyes were glued on their synchronized movements, wondering how long it took them to learn and memorize their routine. 

Louis was so focused on the soldiers that he doesn't even notice the horse-carriages coming around the corner. 

People start shouting over Louis’s head as the first carriage drives by. Louis doesn’t recognize anyone inside it, but he guesses that they’re important because people start cheering loudly.

In the second carriage that follows right behind them, Louis recognizes the girl with the long brown hair, wearing a light green dress as Princess Gemma.

The princess had a kind smile on her face as she waved to the crowd. She must have been only a few years older than him, but she looked like the perfect example of what a princess should be: graceful, kind, and beautiful.

Sitting right next to her, was her mom, the duchess. She looked exactly like Princess Gemma, but just older. She waved at the people with a beaming smile, and her eyes were full of kindness as she scanned the crowd. There was this warmth that radiated around her, and judging by how loud the crowd screamed and clapped for her, it wasn’t just Louis who noticed it.

Starting to get excited, Louis stands up on the bottom bar of the temporary barricade, ignoring the creaking sound it made from his weight. As a third carriage comes into view, Louis starts bouncing on his feet in anticipation.

“Louis!" Louis's mom's voice cuts through the crowd noise. Louis looks back and sees her head popping up from the crowd. "You cannot just run away from me like that! Come back here right—"

Before Louis can finish hearing what she was saying, something cracks under him and the next thing Louis knew, he was falling through the air and landing down on all fours onto the street. He somehow managed to make the barricade fall forward and in doing so, he fell with it.

Louis sits back on his bum and his bottom lip starts to wobble as he sees the scrapes on his knees. He can hear people shouting behind him and he can hear his mom yelling something too, but it was all background noise.

When Louis looks up with watery eyes, he sees the third carriage in front of him, and for a moment he forgets about his injuries and the world seems to slow down.

Inside the carriage was the queen herself, but Louis wasn’t even focused on her. His eyes were trained onto the small little boy sitting next to her.

The boy was wearing a tailored navy blue suit paired with a purple tie. He had strands of brown hair popping out from under his black flat cap, and big green eyes that were currently staring straight at Louis.

 _Prince Harry_. Louis recognized him right away. He's seen him a couple times on the telly, but seeing him in person was a different experience.

Suddenly, Louis's mother comes up behind him and pulls him up to his feet. He feels his mom surveying his wounds and frantically dusting the dirt off him, but his eyes stayed focused on the prince as the carriage starts to drive away.

Before the prince could get too far, Louis raises his hand to wave at him. The prince waves back and a bright smile grows along his face, creating deep dimples that reminded Louis of moon craters.

As the carriage is getting further away, Louis feels a sudden urgency to follow him.

So, without even thinking, Louis escapes his mother’s grasp and runs. He runs after the carriage, chasing the little boy with the green eyes.

Louis hears several footsteps following after him and someone yells out _‘stop'_ , but his tiny legs kept on going, not caring what the consequences were going to be after this.

The prince watches in amusement, his eyes never leaving Louis’s, as if he was silently cheering him on. The queen on the other hand looked down at him like he was some sort of delinquent, but Louis couldn’t care less.

At one moment, Louis gets so close he can almost touch the carriage. "Prince Harry!" he yells.

Louis reaches out a hand at the same time the horses start to speed up. He tries to keep up with them, but he just ends up tripping on his own two feet and landing right back on his knees.

Louis quickly stands up, ignoring the sting, ready to take off again, but he feels someone grab onto the back of his shirt, preventing him from moving.

The prince's smile turns into a disappointed pout when he realizes that Louis wasn’t chasing him anymore.

Not wanting to upset the boy, Louis bows in front of him like he just ended some sort of performance.

When Louis looks back up, he is filled with satisfaction when he sees the prince with a beaming smile and those moon craters that Louis has already become obsessed with.

The carriage continues to drive on, but Louis keeps his eyes on the prince for as long as he can before the sun blinds his eyes. Louis tries blinking the sunlight away, but by the time he opens his eyes again, the carriage was already gone, as well as the prince.

**_1 st February 2021 [Harry (27) Louis (29)] _ **

_“Today marks the twenty-seventh birthday of Prince Harry. We want to wish the prince the happiest of birthday’s and hope he has a blessed day, even though we have no idea where you are.”_

Louis snorts into his drink, as he listens to the news playing on the pub's television.

_“You know I probably ask this every year, but when do you think the prince will come back? It’s a fact that the queen is growing very weak, and I would think she would like to see her grandson one last time before she passes.”_

“Oh mate, that prince is probably off shagging a bunch of women on some beach somewhere,” the bartender snickers at the telly.

Louis takes his last swig of his drink, feeling the liquid burn down his throat. “Well that’s not fair, is it?”

The bartender quirks an eyebrow at him. “What?”

“You don’t know him. You can’t judge someone you don’t know." Louis looks at his empty glass, trying to decide if he wanted another, but decides against it and places it down on the counter. 

“You got a point there, but come on. It’s been fifteen years. Don’t you think it’s time for him to come back?”

“I mean would _you_?” Louis responds back. “When the duchess died, Prince Harry was only twelve. Every day after her death, the news and the media never left that poor family alone, especially that boy. I honestly don’t blame the kid from disappearing from the face of the earth after that."

“Yeah well, now his grandmother is dying and he's nowhere to be seen. He needs to just man up and come back to support his family.”

Louis just stays silent at the man’s insensitivity, and the conversation ends there.

He stays only for a few more minutes, periodically checking his watch. When it reaches 3, Louis lays down a tenner on the counter and leaves.

As soon as he exits the pub, a chilly breeze hits his skin. Louis tugs his coat tighter against his body, trying to trap in his remaining body heat.

Louis feels his phone vibrate and takes it out from his pocket.

It was a message from Liam, _‘Where are you?’_ it read.

Louis rolls his eyes at the message. He swears that man acts more like his mother than his actual mother.

 _‘I’m on my way’,_ Louis quickly presses send and gets into a cab that was waiting on the side of the road.

Louis lazily tells the driver the address before looking back down at his phone.

**Liam**

**_Pub?_ **

_. . ._

**_Right before work? Seriously Lou?_ **

_Just had one._

**_Whatever. Just get here._ **

Louis rubs the skin between his eyes, trying to ease some of his tension.

The ride there is quiet, which Louis appreciated. As much as he liked small talk with random cab drivers, he wasn’t in the best mood for it today.

Kensington Palace finally comes into view and Louis directs the driver to a take a private road that led to the private entrance.

The car stops at the gates and Louis pays the driver before getting out.

“Good afternoon Tommo!” Matt, the guard at the gate, greets him.

Louis smiles politely and presents his ID to the man. “How are you doing Matt?”

“Can’t complain. It’s been a quiet day so far.”

Louis didn’t expect anything less. “That’s always good.”

Matt hands him back his credentials. “It’s always depressing this day isn’t it?”

Louis simply nods his head, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

Everyone around the palace was always on edge during the prince’s birthday, but this year was different.

The queen was clearly not doing well health wise and there was a rumor going around that this could potentially be her last year with them.

Not seeing her only grandson for more than a decade definitely wasn’t making anything better, and his birthday was just a reminder that he wasn’t here.

But, the person who was really going through it right now was Princess Gemma. She has been swamped with her own responsibilities as the princess, but she also had to prepare to become the new Queen of England.

After her mother passed away and her brother disappeared, Gemma wasn’t that same sweet young girl that Louis first saw at the parade. 

In public, Gemma was polite and kind and if needed, she could force a smile on her face. But, when she was behind closed doors, that tough exterior crumbles away and all that’s left is a sensitive and unhappy young woman.

Louis enters the palace grounds and is immediately met with Liam, who seemed to be already waiting for him.

“Glad you could make it,” Liam sneers.

“Where is she?” Louis chooses to ignore his attitude.

Liam crosses his arms across his chest. “In the garden.”

“I thought she had a meeting scheduled for today?”

“She cancelled.”

“Figures.” Louis huffs out a laugh. “So, are you going to brief me or what?”

Both Liam and Louis were assigned as bodyguards to Princess Gemma. Liam usually took the morning shifts, while Louis took the afternoon and evening ones.

Louis has known Liam since they joined the Metro police years ago. He easily became one of his best friend's even until now. It was weird because they had polar opposite personalities, but Louis loved him like a brother. There was literally no one else he rather trust than him.

“Nothing to report,” Liam responds. “Princess Gemma has just been in her room for most of the day. Only has come out to eat and now to visit the garden.”

Louis sighs, sadly. “How is she?”

“Not good,” Liam said truthfully. “She doesn’t say it, but I can tell that she’s not okay.”

Louis nods. “Is there anything else?”

Liam shakes his head. “Nope, I just think…I just think she needs someone to talk to. You two are close, so why don’t you talk to her? I know she’ll listen to you.”

“I can do that." Louis shrugs his shoulders, eyes focused on the ground. “I know a little bit of what she’s going through.”

Louis’s father passed away before his 8th birthday. He knew the pain of losing a parent, so he knows what Gemma felt when she lost her mother. What he will never understand is what it feels like to lose a brother as well.

Even though Prince Harry was still alive (presumably), it felt like he died when he ran away all those years ago.

It was a shock that was felt through the whole nation.

**_‘THE PRINCE IS GONE?!’_ **

**_‘PRINCE HARRY’S DISAPPEARANCE’_ **

**_‘RUN-AWAY PRINCE!’_ **

Headlines like that continued for that whole year, and over time the story was continuously changed and manipulated by the media. Some saying the prince was kidnapped and others saying he killed himself, but the truth was, he just ran away.

A scared little 12-year-old boy who just lost his mom managed to run away from all the royal guards and disappear like he never existed.

Louis still can’t wrap it around his head on how the prince did it. Was this a spontaneous decision or was this planned? Where did he go? Did he have help? Is he alive or dead? Questions like these bounced around in his head for months.

The only thing the prince left behind was a note left to his grandmother.

_I’m sorry grandmother, but I had to do this._

_The more I stayed here, the more I thought of her, fueling my never-ending pain._

_I hope one day you will forgive me._

_I love you forever,_

_Harry._

The note sounded like it was coming from a century old poet, not some 12-year-old kid.

After that note was published in all the magazines and newspapers, the false rumors stopped, but the mystery of where the prince was still remained.

Every now and then there will be men who will go on TV claiming that they’re the long-lost prince. Of course none of them were actually him, just people trying to get attention and maybe a second of fame.

Royal guards, London police, and the RPS looked everywhere in the country, looked at all the CCTV that they could get their hands on, but after years of searching they gave up. The prince obviously didn’t want to be found, and they weren’t going to waste anymore of their resources and energy on him.

Liam receives a call on his phone, making Louis snap out of his thoughts. “I got to take this. You’re good right?”

“Yes, Officer Payne. You’re relieved of your duties,” Louis said with a cheeky grin, knowing how much Liam hates formalities.

Liam just rolls his eyes and presses the phone to his ear, before walking away.

Louis stays where he is for a few more minutes, just biding his time. When he looks outside and sees ice hanging from the trees, he briefly wonders how long Princess Gemma has been out there in the cold.

Concern for her health takes over and Louis speeds walks out to the garden.

He follows a single path, knowing exactly where to look for her.

After a few more steps, Louis finds her sitting on a bench with her back towards him. She was staring out onto the small frozen pond, her body stiff and straight.

Louis notices that she is only wearing a knit cardigan, so he takes off his coat.

“You’re going to freeze out here.” Louis proceeds to drape the coat over her shoulders.

Princess Gemma doesn’t react and just accepts the coat with a small nod. “Thank you Louis.”

Louis fights off a shiver and rubs his hands together to generate some heat. “Of course, _pr_ _incess._ ”

“Shut the hell up,” Gemma chuckles, effectively lightening up the mood.

Louis smiles.

He remembers a time when he wouldn't have even dared to make comments like that to her. When Louis became a RPS officer, and when he was told we would be assigned to Princess Gemma, he was genuinely terrified. 

She was the princess of the country, so of course he was nervous, and then it didn't really help that the first time they met was when Louis accidentally walked in on her and her husband making out on the couch. 

Let's just say it took a while for the two of them to get along after that.

Then to make it worse they discovered that they were both stubborn and had personalities that always clashed. They disagreed on a lot and would argue over the littlest things. It reminded Louis of how it was like fighting with his sister.

It took a few months, but eventually they started warming up to each other, and even though they still argue once in a while, it’s usually just to tease the other one until they get annoyed.

“So, why are you out here? It’s fucking cold." 

Gemma sighs, her breath visible in the air. “You know why.”

Louis looks down at her hands and sees a small black flat cap clenched tightly in her fingers. The same cap that Louis saw sitting on the prince’s head all those years ago.

“You’re acting like he’s dead or something,” Louis snorts and takes a seat next to her on the bench.

“Well he might as well be.” Gemma bites the inside of her cheek. “You would think that he’d come back by now. His own grandmother is dying and he doesn’t even care.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Well then why isn’t he here?!” Gemma’s voice carries across the garden, making birds scatter from the tree. “He would be here by now if he actually cared.”

“Maybe there’s something preventing him from getting here.” Louis tries to come up with an excuse for the missing prince.

“I very much doubt that,” Gemma scoffs, looking down at the cap in her hands.

“And how do you know that? For all we know, he might be in some trouble or god forbid, dead.”

“He’s not. He can’t be.” Gemma’s voice softens.

Louis looks over at her. “How do you know?”

“Because I- I just know okay.”

Louis scans her face for a minute, knowing something was off with her. “Gemma, what’s going on?”

Gemma turns her head and stares into Louis’s eyes as if she’s searching for something. Without saying anything, Gemma stands up from the bench. “Come with me.”

“Where are we going?” Louis questions as he stands up with her.

“Just come on.” Gemma grabs his hand and drags him with her back into the palace.

Louis let’s himself be pulled, but starts to get skeptical once he realizes that they were going down into the cellar. “Gemma why are we—”

Gemma shushes him. “No talking, just follow.”

Louis reluctantly shuts his mouth. It’s a good thing he likes her.

Gemma drops his hand and walks up to a wooden shelf that was leaned up against the wall. “Help me move this.”

“Move what?”

“This damn shelf.” Gemma stands on one side waiting for Louis to hurry up.

Without questioning it, Louis gets on the other side and helps her move it. Louis pulls while Gemma pushes and they manage to move the shelf against the concrete floor, making a screeching noise.

Once they moved it, Louis looks behind where the shelf was and his mouth drops slightly. “No way,” he said with disbelief.

Behind the shelf was a secret doorway to…well Louis doesn’t really know where, but it seems to be a tunnel.

When he enters, a chill sets in, making Louis shiver. “Where the hell are we?”

Louis squints down the tunnel, letting his eyes adjust to the dark. The ceiling was lined with lights, but it barely lit up the place. The tunnel was wide enough for a car, and the walls and ceilings were made of concrete. The whole thing reminded Louis of a parking garage or maybe the bat cave.

“This is a tunnel,” Gemma answers simply.

“Yeah, I can see that,” Louis said with awe in his voice. “I mean how long has this been here, and how come I did not know about this?”

“This was here since the palace was built. The only people who knew about this were close members of the royal family. My grandmother made us swear not to tell any outsiders.”

“So, why are you telling me then?” Louis stares at her curiously.

Gemma pauses and leans back against the wall. “This was how my brother was able to escape.”

Louis lets the words sink in. He looks around and notices that there weren’t any cameras anywhere. This explains why there wasn’t any CCTV footage of him.

“Wait." Louis slowly turns toward her, realization hitting him. “How do you know that?”

Gemma bites her bottom lip, one of her nervous tics. “I was the one who led him down here.”

Louis freezes. “Y-You led him down here?”

Gemma nods shakily. “I was the one who helped my brother run-away.”

Feeling light-headed, Louis leans against the wall next to her. This didn’t make any sense. “I don’t understand.”

A small chuckle leaves Gemma’s mouth, the sound echoing through the empty tunnel. “I didn’t expect you to. This is why I brought you down here. I want you to know the whole story.”

Louis just nods his head, still in shock to even form words.

Gemma clears her throat and stares up at the ceiling. “When we were small, Harry was…different from the rest of the boys. He didn’t like to play footie or play with cars. Instead, he liked to stay with me and we would play pretend. Harry would come into my room and we would just dress up in our finest clothes and have tea parties or fashion shows.” Gemma smiles fondly at the memories. “At first, he would just wear his suits that mum had bought for him, but then he started to wear some of my old dresses, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him happier.

“His face always lit up, and even though me and mum never quite understood it, we always supported him. Mum even decided to buy him his own custom dresses. His first ever dress was a purple ball gown with frills, and in the center was this beautiful design made with pearls; it was stunning, especially when it was on Harry. I will never forget his face when he opened that box.”

Louis notices the softness around her eyes, making his heart clench slightly. “Sounds like happy times.”

“Oh they were. Those days hold my happiest memories. Me and Harry were so close, we were inseparable.” Gemma sighs sadly. “But it wasn’t long before all of that went to shit. One day me and Harry were playing in the garden, watching the geese in the pond, when suddenly my uncle comes out. He sees Harry in a dress, and he just goes berserk. He kept going on about how boys weren’t supposed to wear dresses and that Harry was a disgrace to the family.

“Mum was furious, and that was the last time we ever saw my uncle, but Harry wasn’t the same after that. He stopped wearing dresses, and he didn’t come into my room to play anymore. It was like he was ashamed of who he was just because of some dumb ignorant shit my uncle said," Gemma practically growls.

Louis puts a comforting hand on her shoulder, even though he was seething himself from just listening to the story. 

Gemma leans into his touch before continuing on. “Then in the same year when that whole thing happened, mum passed away. We were all devastated obviously, but Harry…Harry took it the hardest. Mum was one of the only people in our family that truly accepted who he was. When she passed away, all the light in Harry’s eyes disappeared.” Gemma pauses to wipe the stray tears that managed to fall down her cheek. “At the funeral I remember how I was blubbering like a baby, but then I turned to Harry and his face was void of all emotions. His eyes were dark, and his face was like stone. He didn’t cry once, and for a minute I sat their asking myself who the hell was sitting next to me, because this was not the same boy that pranced in the garden whilst wearing a flower crown in his hair. It was like looking at a stranger.”

Gemma takes a shaky breath, trying to recollect herself. “Anyway, a few days after that, Harry comes into my room one night. He sits down and tells me that he couldn’t do it anymore. That the more he stayed in the palace, the more he felt like he was losing himself. That’s when he told me of his plan to run-away.

“Of course I told him that he was crazy and insane for even considering such a thing, but then he looks me dead in the eyes and I could tell.” Gemma sniffles. “I could tell that he was unhappy. He looked so broken and tired, and seeing him like that was torture. My sweet little brother was gone and was replaced with this sad little broken boy.”

Louis blinks away tears, clearing his own throat. “So, you helped him?”

“Yes. I had no choice Lou. If he stayed here any longer, I knew it would be too late to help him.”

“Why didn’t you just talk to your grandmother first? Tell her what was going on, I’m sure she would have done something to help.”

Gemma shakes her head. “No way. As much as I love my grandmother, there was a reason why we didn’t tell her about Harry wearing dresses. She’s very old fashioned and we all knew she would never understand, but even if by some chance she did accept Harry, running away was the only option for him. Harry would have never been allowed out in public in a dress or in anything he wanted to wear. He wanted to be himself and he couldn’t do that if he stayed here.”

“He wanted to start a new life,” Louis concludes.

“Yes and he couldn’t do that if everyone knew where he was, so he disappeared. I called our aunt who lives in France and we decided that Harry would live with her. She came here during the middle of the night to this tunnel”—Gemma gestures to the concrete walls surrounding them—“and we packed Harry’s things in the boot, and that was it. I kissed Harry on his cheek one last time, and he was gone. That was the last time I saw my little brother.”

“Wait, you never saw your brother after that? Are you guys even still in contact with one another?”

“No. Harry and I thought it was best if we didn’t contact each other after he left. We both knew the police were going to search my laptop, my phone, everything, so we both agreed that it was safer if we didn’t communicate at all.”

Louis stared at her, his eyebrows furrowed. “So, you’ve never heard from him since?”

“Not exactly. About three years ago, I received a message from a blocked number. It was Harry and he said that he was doing well. That he finished Uni and was working a good job. He didn’t give me any specifics or anything, but I was just glad that he was alive. I probably reread that message a dozen of times.”

“He didn’t tell you where he went?”

Gemma shakes her head. “He didn’t tell me anything. He didn’t say anything about where he was, or where he was working at. He just said that I shouldn’t worry about him.”

Louis tries to digest everything that Gemma has told him so far. This was the biggest mystery of their time. There were several documentaries made on the missing prince and Louis watched almost all of them. Now here he was, finding out details that nobody knows about from the only person who knew what really happened to the prince. It was so overwhelming that Louis’s head was starting to throb.

“Lou, you okay?” Gemma asks, concern laced in her voice.

“Just a lot to take in, I’m sorry.” Louis takes a few minutes to take some deep breaths. “So, why are you telling me all of this? Why me and why now?”

“As you know, my grandmother is not doing too well. The doctors tell us that this is most likely her last year, and her only wish before she passes is to see Harry one last time.”

“Does she know the truth?”

“No, not yet. I want Harry to be here when I tell her. If I tell her the truth and Harry’s not here, it’s going to break her heart, and I don’t want to be the cause of that.”

Louis straightens up, suddenly realizing why Gemma might be telling him all of this. “Gemma, why are you telling me this?” he asks one more time, just for confirmation.

“I need you to find my brother,” she says in one breath.

And that’s what Louis was scared off. “Gemma—”

“I know it sounds impossible,” she sighs.

“It is impossible!” Louis shouts, incredulously. “We have no idea where he is or what he looks like now! It’s been fifteen years Gemma, he’s what, twenty-seven? There’s no way he still looks like how he did when he left.”

“I know that!” Gemma yells out in frustration. “But I’m desperate here Louis! My grandmother is on her death bed and I’m next in line to take the throne. I’m shitting myself as it is, and now on top of all that, I have the guilt of knowing that I conspired with my brother to plan out his own disappearance! I can handle a lot Louis, but breaking my grandmother’s heart is something that I can’t live with.”

Louis watches Gemma pace around and now he felt a little guilty for causing her so much stress. “I know, I know, I’m sorry,” he said is a more gentle tone. “I didn’t mean to upset you Gems, I’m just trying to be realistic here.”

“Look I know how crazy this is, but I just need you to try. Can you please try for me?” she begs with pleading eyes.

Louis puts his hands on his hips and lets out a loud sigh. It was a very small chance of him finding Harry, he would pretty much need a miracle, _but_ Gemma was looking at him with those big eyes of hers and Louis doesn’t know how he could ever say no to her.

“Do you have any information on where he might be?” Louis asks. “Anything that could hint at where he is? Maybe your aunt knows something?”

Gemma just stares at him, almost like she was shocked that he was actually playing along with this. “Oh, uh yes actually,” Gemma said as she snaps out of it. “Harry stayed with our aunt in France for a few more years just to finish homeschooling and then he went to Uni.”

“Okay, so what university did he go to?”

“Some rich school in New York City.”

Louis’s eyes widen with surprise. “He went to America."

“Yeah, I was shocked too,” Gemma softly chuckles. “But that’s all my aunt told me. After Harry left France, he never contacted my aunt again.”

“Okay well that doesn’t help much does it? I mean he told you he finished Uni three years ago, so there’s a chance that he’s not even in New York anymore.”

“Well, I don’t think he would come back to England. After everything that’s happened here, I doubt he would ever come back. And if he was in France, he would have contacted my aunt again. I have a feeling he’s still in New York.”

Louis looks at her with doubt. “So, let me get this straight. You want me to go to New York on a gut feeling to try to find your long lost brother who most likely changed his name, and who we have no idea what he looks like?" 

“Yes.”

Louis silently blinks at her a few times before letting out a sigh and pushes himself off the wall. "Fine. I’ve always wanted to go to New York anyway.”

“You’re serious? You’ll do it?”

Louis nods his head. “Of course. I can’t deny a direct order from her highness, now can I?”

Next thing he knows, small arms are wrapping around his neck and he’s being tightly embraced.

“Thank you Louis. This means a lot to me,” Gemma mumbles into his neck.

Louis wraps his arms around her, reciprocating the hug. “I need you to understand that it’s very unlikely that I will find him,” he warns her upfront. “I don’t want to get your hopes up, okay?”

Gemma nods, her arms still wound tight around him. “I know, but at least we’re trying. I just want my little brother back home even if it’s just for a little while.”

“I know, and I’ll try my best to find him. I promise.”

Louis knows that this task is close to impossible, but if there was even a small chance he could find him, he was going to take it.

\---

Why in the world would the prince pick New York to start his new life in? It was cold, wet, and loud and crowded, much like London actually. Why couldn’t he of chosen a place that was warm all year-round like California or Florida or even Hawaii?

Louis tries to imagine the sun radiating down on his face and him drinking a cold beer on a beach somewhere, trying to pretend that he wasn’t freezing his arse off on the side of the road waiting for a cab.

After what seemed like forever, Louis manages to successfully hail a car.

He stuffs his suitcase into the boot and hurries in, to escape the cold.

“Hello,” Louis greets the driver. “Can you take me to the Baccarat Hotel, please?”

The driver let’s out an impressed whistle. “That’s a very fancy place.

“Yeah, I know.”

Gemma was the one who got him a room at the Baccarat, even though he said he was fine with just staying in some cheap hotel. But of course, Gemma didn’t listen to him and decided to put him in a 5-star hotel in the center of Manhattan instead.

“So, what is it that you do? If you don’t mind me asking?” the driver asks, as he pulls out onto the road.

Louis takes off his beanie and slicks his hair back. “I’m the bodyguard to the Princess of England.”

The driver’s eyes glance back at him through the rearview mirror, before breaking out in laughter. “Yeah, and I’m having an affair with Beyoncé.”

Louis smirks out the window and watches the city pass by him. He takes the time to take the city all in. This is his first time in New York, and he was kind of excited.

The place was active, even though it was freezing out. People were outside with their long coats and puffy jackets, trying to get to their destination as fast as they could to get out of the cold. Tall buildings loomed over him, making him crane his neck to see what was on the top.

Louis’s eyes were practically glued to the window for the rest of the drive there, not wanting to miss a single thing.

When Louis finally checks-in to the hotel, the exhaustion from his flight suddenly starts to settle in.

By the time he gets to his room, Louis practically passes out on his bed, not even bothering to change or get under the covers.

Louis wakes up to the sound of his ring tone. He groggily sits up, blindly reaching his arm out to find his phone.

“Hello?” Louis answers, his voice raspy from sleep.

“Hey Louis, it’s me.” Gemma’s voice comes through. “Did I wake you up?”

“Yeah, but it’s alright. I’ve been sleeping for a few hours now it looks like,” Louis responds, as he sees that it’s already 3 in the afternoon. “Is everything alright?”

“Uh huh, I just wanted to check that you got there okay. How’s your room by the way? That was all they had available since it was so last minute.”

Louis takes the time to finally take his room in. He is pleasantly surprised to find that he was laying down in a king-sized, four poster bed with white silk sheets under him. In front of him was a large window that over-looked parts of New York, and thank god Louis wasn’t scared of heights because he was pretty high up here.

There were also little decorative pieces scattered around that just screamed _posh_. Like who needs this much throw pillows, or some abstract painting hanging on the wall that looked like a rainbow threw up on it.

“I think this will do,” Louis answers her. “This place is better than my flat back in London.”

“Hey, I quite like your flat. It’s very charming.”

“Oh yes, the sparse furniture and the walls made out of paper make my place very ‘charming'.” Louis snorts, as he smooth’s over the sheets under him.

Gemma’s laugh echoes in his ear. “Before I forget, I wanted to let you know that you have access to all the amenities at the hotel. I also made sure to include room-service for you.”

“Gemma,” Louis groans. “Why are you spending this much money on me? Let me remind you that I’m not here for holiday.”

“I know but, you deserve this. I know I sent you there to look for my brother, but I also want you to enjoy your time there. When’s the last time you took off from the job?”

Louis tries to think back to the last time he called out. It was about two years ago and it was for a dinner with his now ex-boyfriend’s parents.

“It doesn’t matter Gems.” Louis decides not to answer. “I’m here to do a job, not to drink champagne and have bubbles baths.”

“I mean you could do all of that and find my brother.” Gemma tries to reason with him. “Just think of this as a thank you gift for all these years of protecting me. It would be very rude of you if you didn’t accept my gift, wouldn’t it?”

“You’re such a wanker.”

“Now, is that anyway to talk to your boss?”

Louis lightly chuckles. “I do appreciate this Gemma. It means a lot that you did all of this for me.”

“Of course. You’re one of my best friends Louis.”

“I guess you’re one of mine too,” Louis teases.

“And you say I’m the wanker.” Louis can practically hear her rolling her eyes. “I have to go, but I’ll talk to you later okay?”

“Alright, talk to you soon.”

Louis hangs up and swiftly jumps up from the bed. He stretches out his limbs and wrinkles his nose when he gets a whiff of himself.

Deciding that he needed a shower, Louis strips off his clothes and heads into the bathroom.

Louis probably spends at least 30 minutes just enjoying the large stand-in shower, and letting the steam and hot water relax his muscles.

By the time he gets out his skin was pruned, but at least he was refreshed and ready to restart the day.

Louis cleans the fogged up mirror with his hand, and looks at the man in the reflection. There were wrinkles starting to form around his eyes and he could see little specks of grey in his hair and beard.

As much as he hates to admit it, he was getting old. Time was starting to catch up to him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

It’s not like Louis was scared of getting old, it was going to happen to everybody eventually, so there was nothing to be scared of. What he was scared of was not being able to do the things he wants to do before it was too late.

More than anything, Louis wanted a family. He wanted a loving husband and kids to come home to. Louis’s had a couple boyfriends, but no one stayed around too long. His last boyfriend was his longest relationship, which unfortunately ended just like the rest.

Eventually, Louis stopped looking, and just decided to let fate take over. If there was someone out there for him, then they’ll find their way to him. But if there isn’t, then Louis will stay alone forever and that’s that.

Louis rubs his chin between his fingers, feeling the thick, scruffy hair that has taken over his face.

Deciding that he needed a little trim, Louis takes out his razor and starts shaving.

By the time he was done there was a pile of tiny hairs in the sink and all that was left on his face was a bit of stubble. He definitely looked younger and less of a caveman like this.

As Louis decides on what to do, he remembers that on his drive here, he saw a café just a few blocks from the hotel, and decides that he’ll head over to get some research done and maybe something to eat.

Louis takes a sip of his coffee and fights off a grimace. He wasn’t the biggest fan of coffee, being more of tea man himself, but he needed a little energy boost right now.

Apparently, Prince Harry didn’t think it was important to specify what college he attended to Gemma or his aunt, and now Louis was sat there staring blankly at his laptop screen.

_Well, what the hell do I do now?_

Louis let’s out a deep sigh and searches richest colleges in New York, which of course was stupid because he gets a list of a dozen of colleges.

“This is impossible,” Louis mumbles to himself and leans back into his chair.

He knew what he was getting into, but he thought he would at least have one thing to go off of. Right now he has absolutely nothing, and the thing was he couldn’t even just wander the streets, hoping to magically run into the prince because he had no idea what he looked like now.

Since the prince was never fond of taking photographs, the most recent picture he has of the prince is a grainy photo of him during his mother's funeral. Back then, he had short curly brown hair and was around 5 foot. Louis highly doubts that he still looks like that now at 27.

Louis feels a headache coming on and he tilts his head back trying to calm himself down.

The café Louis was at was small, but it was cozy. There was some relaxing music playing overhead, while people were eating or quietly typing away on their laptops.

Louis’s eyes roam the room, but he stops short when something catches his eye.

There’s a mother and a little girl, who he presumes is her daughter, sitting at a table near him. The little girl looked to be around 10, and she was wearing this pretty purple dress which was what caught Louis’s eye in the first place.

It was a ball gown, but it wasn’t one of those cheap play dresses that parents got for their kids. No, this was clearly handmade and looked like it cost a fair bit.

Louis doesn’t know why, but there was something familiar about this dress. It takes a while, but it eventually hits him.

Louis quickly takes out his phone and pulls up his messages with Gemma. Before he left England, Gemma had sent him old pictures of anything that had to do with Harry, from old books he used to read to clothing he used to wear; including his first ever dress.

When Louis finds the picture of the dress, he looks from his phone and then back to the little girl. They weren’t the same dress, but there were definitely some obvious similarities. Both dresses were the same shade of purple and were basically the same style, but what Louis found interesting was that the same intricate pattern on the bodice of Harry’s dress was exactly the same on the girl’s dress even down to the last pearl.

Louis briefly wonders how common that pattern was in the fashion world.

After thinking it over for a minute, Louis decides to try his luck.

“Excuse me.” Louis waves his hand to the woman to get her attention. After her eyes land on him, he puts on his brightest smile.

“Yes?” She quirks an eyebrow at him.

“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting, but your daughter’s dress is absolutely stunning. May I ask where you bought it? I have a younger sister who looks to be about her age, and I’ve been trying to find her a dress like that for a while,” Louis lies straight through his teeth.

The women’s face softens when she realizes that Louis wasn’t some creep. “Oh, thank you! I just bought this for her last week at this small boutique in SoHo, called ‘H.S'.”

Louis’s interest is peaked. “Oh really? Was the dress custom designed?”

"Yes, it was." 

"Do you know who the designer is?"

“I believe his name is Henry Sullivan," the woman answers him and Louis files the name away. "He's fairly new, but he's amazing. I saw this dress in his window, and I knew I had to buy it for her. She's been wearing it almost everyday." 

Louis looks down at the little girl. “Well, she looks very beautiful in it, I wouldn’t want to take it off either.”

“Thank you, mister.” The girl smiles shyly. “My name is Jasmine.”

“Like the princess?”

Jasmine nods her head enthusiastically.

“Well that name fits you beautifully. My name is Louis, it’s nice to meet you.” Louis’s eyes crinkle from smiling. He was always a sucker for children.

“Nice to meet you Louis. I like your voice. Are you a prince?”

Louis let’s out a genuine laugh. “No, I’m not, but I’m trying to look for one.”

“Aren’t we all?” The mother sighs with a sense of longing.

After a few more minutes of just polite conversation, Louis notices that it’s getting late and excuses himself.

He gets a cab and drives straight to the boutique that the woman directed him to.

It was about a 25-minute drive so Louis takes the time to search up the designer.

_Henry Sullivan._

Louis doesn’t manage to find a picture, but he finds out that he’s 27 and he graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology, the best fashion school in New York.

He started his boutique about 3 years ago, and apparently his name was quickly rising in the fashion world. Louis found an article titled ‘Top 5 New Fashion Designers’ and Henry Sullivan was on top of the list.

The article explained how his elegant designs and creative artistry were captivating many people, including Tom Ford, who had a lot of praise for the young designer. It also explained how Henry was a very private person and rarely took pictures, hence his missing photo.

Louis locks his phone and breathes. This was a reach, he knew that. He was basing all of this on just some child’s dress. It was crazy, but it’s all he had right now, and it’s not like he had a lot to go on anyway.

The boutique was on the corner of the street and looked fairly small, but Louis could tell that this place was definitely not some cheap department store.

There were other stores connected to it, but what made it stick out from the rest was the large gold ‘H' and ‘S' on the building.

It was dark already and unfortunately it looks like he got there too late since there was a man locking up the store.

Louis tells the cab driver to give him a few minutes, before rushing out the car.

“Excuse me.” Louis walks up to the man. “Are you Henry Sullivan?”

The man turns around, and Louis already knows this cannot be the prince. Unless Harry somehow changed his eye color to blue and changed his whole face, this was not him.

“Oh no, I’m not. I work for him though. Is there something you need?” the man asks with a distinct Irish accent, which confirms Louis’s suspicions that this was not the prince.

“I just wanted to ask him about a dress for my sister.”

The man gives him an apologetic look. “Sorry, we just closed up, but we open first thing tomorrow at nine.”

“Oh okay, that’s fine. I’ll just be back here tomorrow then. I’m Louis Tomlinson by the way.” Louis puts out his hand.

The man accepts the handshake. “Good to meet you. I’m Niall Horan. Are you from around here?”

“Oh no, I’m just on a business trip from England.”

Niall nods. “Ah okay. What part of England are you from?”

“Doncaster,” Louis said proudly. “Have you been before?”

“Not Doncaster, but I’ve been to London when I was a kid for a family trip. I’ve been wanting to go back for a while now, but we’ve been so busy here lately.”

“I get it.” Louis nods in understanding. “So, um how does this work? Do I have to schedule an appointment with him?”

“Usually yes, but being British himself, H has a soft spot for people from his homeland. I’m sure he’ll see you without an appointment.”

A sliver of hope makes its way through Louis. “He’s from England?”

Niall nods. “Yep.”

“Oh, that’s cool,” Louis said lamely, trying to tone down his interest. “Well, it was nice meeting you Niall. Sorry for keeping you.”

“No, you’re alright. It was nice meeting you as well. I’ll see you tomorrow, Louis.” Niall waves goodbye before disappearing around the corner.

Louis stuffs his hands into his pocket and looks at the window display in front of him.

There were two dresses on display, both were ones that will definitely catch your eye if you’re just walking down the street. They were both the same dress, but one was made for an adult and the other for a child. The dresses were long-sleeved gowns and were a light shade of blue. There were pearls that ran down the body of the dresses and the tops were covered in sparkles.

Louis wasn’t the biggest fashion person, like at all. He wore the same boring black suit and shoes every day, but based on what he’s already seen from this Henry Sullivan, he could tell that he was a very creative and talented guy.

Upon closer inspection Louis notices that the two mannequins in the window were holding hands. It seems that whoever put them there wanted to imitate a mother and her child.

Louis hears the cab driver honk at him to hurry up, so Louis takes one last look at the store before walking away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be a long one, so I hope you stick around. If you're excited for this story please leave a kudos and leave me some comments as well!
> 
> I'm updating this fic every Friday around 5pm EST!
> 
> Follow me on Twitter @LTHSFICS if you want to chat or if you have any questions!
> 
> -DJN


	2. Strike I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PREVIEW
> 
> “Um, what do you like to be called?” Louis asks.
> 
> For some reason that question prompts Henry to look Louis up and down. Louis doesn’t know how to react to that so he just stands there, silent, watching as Henry’s eyes slowly work their way up, as if he was examining him.
> 
> When his eyes reach back to Louis’s, there’s a small smirk playing on his lips. “You can call me H.”
> 
> Louis swallows, his throat suddenly dry. “Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday everyone!  
> In this chapter we finally meet this Henry Sullivan guy, so I hope you guys enjoy.  
> Have fun reading!
> 
> -DJN

****

**_Tuesday, 9 th February 2021_ **

Louis pays the woman at the cash register and steps aside to wait for his order. He takes his phone that was pressed between his cheek and shoulder, and presses it properly against his ear. “So, what do you think?”

There’s a silence on the other side of the line, before Gemma’s voice cuts through. “I think you’re crazy.”

And that’s exactly the response Louis knew he was going to get. “Look I know this is a reach—”

“It’s more than a reach Lou,” Gemma huffs out a laugh. “You think this fashion designer is my brother just because he made a dress similar to the one Harry had, and because he’s British.”

Louis hears his name called and walks up to retrieve his tea and blueberry bagel. “Well this is all I have Gems,” he sighs as he looks around to find a table to sit at. “It’s not like you gave me a lot to go on. I’m basically running blind out here.” Louis finds an empty table by a window and situates himself there.

“I mean, I did tell you that he went to a rich school in New York City,” she mumbles, sounding unconvinced herself.

Louis stares out the window with a blank look, watching as people walked by, going about their day. “Yeah Gemma, that’s _all_ you gave me. Do you realize how many colleges there are in New York?”

Gemma groans, frustrated, against the speaker. “Okay fine, you have a point,” she admits, which was a very rare occurrence. “So, you said this guy’s name is Henry Sullivan right?”

“Yeah.” Louis takes a bite of his bagel. “Does the name ring a bell?”

“No, I don’t think so. I tried searching him up, but there’s no pictures of him. Are you sure he’s real?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Louis washes his food down with his tea, sighing in relief of the familiar taste. “Maybe he just doesn’t like taking photos.”

Gemma hums, noncommittal. “Harry hated taking photos. We had to practically force him into our family portraits.” Louis hears her loud and clear, but at the same time she sounded so far away.

He knows that tone. Louis’s been around her for a long time to know that she was probably twisting her thumb between her fingers with a somber look on her face. It’s what she does every time something reminds her of her brother, as if she was stuck in a memory.

“Gems, I’m going to do the best I can to find him. I can promise you that,” Louis speaks up after a few seconds of silence.

“I know.” Her voice much softer. “Keep me updated yeah?”

“Of course,” Louis responds, before they hang up.

It felt like a heavy weight was just placed on Louis’s shoulders, and he just hopes he’s able to withstand the pressure of it.

SoHo is a very different place in the daytime than it was at night.

Louis watches hoards of people walking around with shopping bags covering their arms, and he briefly wonders how their circulation isn’t being cut off.

They were all quite fashionable too. Many people had these very expensive looking coats on with their designer scarves, and fancy sunglasses on top of their noses. Everyone just screamed rich.

Once those familiar golden letters get into Louis’s sight, he sits up straight and looks down at what he was wearing.

He had on his black waist coat that he knew was definitely not designer, black trousers he’s had since he was 20, and shoes that were a Christmas present from Gemma, which of course was the only expensive thing he was wearing.

 _This will just have to do,_ Louis thinks to himself.

Personality always trumped appearance, right?

Once Louis was out of the car, he pauses outside the store.

He peers inside through the glass and sees Niall behind the register with a customer. Louis scans the rest of the room and he discovers it was pretty much empty except for a pair of women browsing through.

After a few more seconds, Louis finally opens the door and walks in. The thing that hits him first was the smell of vanilla. The air was saturated in it, but Louis didn’t mind because it reminded him of when his mother would bake her sugar cookies.

The next thing he notices is that the store, despite how small it looked from the outside, was actually quite big.

It was a very elegant place. The walls were painted a cream color while the floors were white marble with those fancy rich looking rugs on top.

Leaned up against the walls were racks of clothing all neatly sorted out in color, which Louis was strangely satisfied with.

Mannequins were littered throughout the store all wearing gowns, each one different, but at the same time the designer managed to keep the beauty and elegance of each one intact.

There didn’t seem to be a cohesive style that the designer seemed to have either. Some clothes looked modern and fresh, something like Louis’s sister would wear, while others were a bit more old-fashioned, and vintage looking.

Louis didn’t mind the variety. He actually thought it was cool to see the two different styles, and it was giving him a small idea of what this Henry Sullivan might be like.

Finally in the middle of the store is where the register is. Louis watches as Niall says goodbye to the customer he was just helping, before his eyes meet his.

“Louis!” Niall beams, as if he just saw a long-time friend, and maneuvers his way out from behind the register. “Welcome to H.S.” He splays out his arms.

“It’s good to see you again Niall. This is a nice store you guys have here.”

“Thank you. We just put in some fresh flowers too. You came on a good day.”

Louis looks around and suddenly realizes that he overlooked all the flower vases scattered around the room. He doesn’t know how he missed them, almost every flat surface had a flower of some sort on top of it. “That’s quite a lot of flowers,” he comments.

“Yeah, H loves his flowers,” Niall chuckles with a fond smile.

Louis has to keep himself from scoffing. That’s the second time Louis’s heard Niall refer to Henry as ‘H’. The only people who refer to themselves as one letter, always turn out to be weirdos or pretentious pricks.

“So, where is the big boss then?” Louis asks, subtlety looking around the store for anyone that may be him.

“He’s in a consultation with a client right now, but he should be finishing up soon.”

“Are you sure he’ll be fine with meeting me without an appointment? I don’t want to take time from anyone else.”

“You won’t. His next client won’t come in until later this afternoon. He should be free until then,” Niall reassures him.

“Alright if you say so, but if he yells at me, I’m blaming you.”

Niall throws his head back, laughing. “Oh please, H is not a yeller. Trust me.”

“I’m not a what?” An unfamiliar voice comes from behind Niall.

For some reason the voice, sends a shiver up Louis’s spine. It was deep and rich, a voice that would probably make anyone, man or woman, a little weak in the knees. There was a hint of a British accent, but it was nothing like Louis’s thick Northern one. This one was faded, as if this person hasn’t been back to England for a few years.

Niall looks over his shoulder. “Oh, I was just reassuring Louis here that you would never yell at him.”

“Who’s Louis, and why would I yell at him?” The voice comes closer until he was standing right next to Niall.

The first time Louis lays eyes on the man, something goes off inside his head, like a quick flash, only lasting for a second before disappearing. It was like a firework that went up in the air, and failed to explode, fizzling out until it fell back down into nothing.

Louis would compare the feeling to déjà vu, but this felt more intense, like a hazy memory that he can’t seem to reach.

When Louis realizes he hasn’t said anything yet, he shakily reaches his hand in front of him. “Um, hi I’m Louis Tomlinson.” He hopes that his voice doesn’t sound as shaky as it was in his head.

The man smiles kindly, and shakes his hand. “Hi, I’m Henry Sullivan, but you can call me H.”

Because Louis’s head was so out of whack right now, he couldn’t control what comes out of his mouth next. “H? That’s a bit pretentious, isn’t it?” Louis physically shuts himself up by covering his mouth with his hand. “I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to say that.”

Thankfully Henry doesn’t take it too seriously, barking out a laugh. “No, it’s okay, I get it. If you want to call me Henry, you can.”

“Um, what do you like to be called?” Louis asks.

For some reason that question prompts Henry to look Louis up and down. Louis doesn’t know how to react to that so he just stands there, silent, watching as Henry’s eyes slowly work their way up, as if he was examining him.

When his eyes reach back to Louis’s, there’s a small smirk playing on his lips. “ _You_ can call me H.”

Louis swallows, his throat suddenly dry. “Okay.”

The smirk on Henry morphs into a small smile. “So, Mr. Tomlinson, is there a reason I should be yelling at you?”

“Oh you can just call me Louis, and uh well, I wanted to buy a dress from here, but I didn’t know I needed to schedule an appointment.” Louis wrings his hands nervously in front of him. He honestly doesn’t know why he was acting like this. He usually was so calm and cool. “Niall told me yesterday that it would be fine, but I still feel bad for not contacting you beforehand.”

“I told him that you favor our British customers over everyone else,” Niall chimes in, reminding Louis that he was there.

“No, I do not.” Henry tsks, while he lightly smacks Niall on his shoulder, and then turns back to face Louis. “And I would never yell at you or anyone for something like that. So, who is the dress for?”

Louis was a little surprised at how nice this guy was being. When Louis got here, he was expecting an obnoxious, snobby, dickhead, but Henry so far seems like a nice lad.

“I’m looking for a dress for my little sister. Her birthday is coming up, and I thought a nice dress would be a good gift.” After his slip-up earlier, Louis was surprised he was able to deliver this so smoothly.

It also helped that the story wasn’t a total lie either. Louis' sister’s birthday is coming up soon, and he’s been putting off buying her a gift, so he thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to get her one.

“That’s so sweet!” Henry coos. “How old?”

“Twenty-one.”

“That’s awesome. She can legally drink here now,” Henry said with a tiny giggle, the sound making Louis’s stomach twirl. “Alright, well if you want, we can look at a couple of dresses out on the floor and see if any of those could work?” he asks, and Louis nods his head almost immediately.

Niall leaves just after that, saying something about organizing the backroom or maybe cleaning the bathroom? Honestly Louis wasn’t paying much attention, because now he was left alone with this very beautiful man.

Henry takes out a notepad from his back pocket and starts jotting something down, leaving Louis to stand back and just watch him.

He was a few feet taller than Louis, with broad shoulders and long-lanky legs. His hair was brown and short, curling slightly at the ends, making Louis imagine that if he grew it out, it would be long soft ringlets.

His face was littered with sharp edges; his jawline almost perfectly angular and his cheekbones clearly visible. Louis also noticed earlier that his eyes were green with little brown flakes in them, a rare eye color that kind of reminds him of…Gemma.

Now that Louis thinks about it, there was a weird resemblance between the two. Louis squints his eyes at the man, trying to make sense of it, but before it can click, Henry interrupts his thoughts.

“So, tell me a little about your sister,” Henry asks, as he leans back against the counter. “What’s her style? What’s her favorite color? Stuff like that.”

“Um, she’s your classic girly girl, I guess, and her favorite color changes like every day so I don’t think she has one?” Louis said unsure. He loves his sister, but he doesn’t pay much attention to what she wears.

Henry stays quiet as if he’s expecting Louis to say more, and when he doesn’t, he chuckles. “Is that it?” Henry asked with amusement along his lips.

“Yes?” Louis answers, unsure.

“Do you happen to have a photo of her?”

Louis nods and pulls up a recent photo of his sister from her Instagram.

“Her name is Lottie?” Henry asks, probably seeing her username.

“It’s Charlotte, but we call her Lottie as a nickname.”

Henry nods his head as he looks at the picture and smiles. “She’s very pretty. Looks kind of like you.”

Louis’s face immediately heats up, which doesn’t happen often. “Oh um, thanks?”

“You're welcome.” Henry winks at him before turning on his heels. “So, shall we look at some dresses now?” his voice chipper.

“Yes please,” Louis said, almost pleading.

Louis follows Henry around the store as he shows him various dresses in different styles and colors. Most of the time Louis has no idea what he’s talking about, so he just nods like he understands.

As they’re walking, Louis tries to think of ways to pry more personal information from Henry. Just having a faded British accent and a slight resemblance to Gemma, wasn’t going to cut it.

Louis also needed to be subtle. He couldn’t just straight up ask the guy if he was the missing prince of England. He needed to tread carefully, because if this Henry guy does end up being the prince, Louis didn’t want to spook him.

The prince has been in hiding for 15 years, it’s safe to say that he had no intention of coming back home. If he finds out that his sister sent someone to come get him, Louis is afraid that he might take off running, disappearing all over again.

“…but I think the red would look so good on her. Don’t you think?”

Henry’s voice brings Louis out from his thoughts. “I’m sorry what?” Louis blinks up at him.

“I think the red dress would look good on her skin tone. Don’t you agree?” Henry repeats himself, choosing to ignore Louis’s odd behavior.

“Oh, uh yeah.” Louis shrugs, having no idea what he was talking about.

Henry narrows his eyes at Louis. “Are you sure this dress is for your sister?”

Louis frowns. “Yeah. Why would I lie about that?”

“Maybe you’re buying a dress not for your sister, but maybe you’re buying it for someone else?” Henry said, his words calculated.

Louis was thoroughly confused. “What? Who else would I be buying it for?”

“Look,” Henry leans forward so Louis was the only one able to hear him, “believe it or not, it’s very common for men to come into my store asking to buy dresses for themselves.”

Louis’s eyes widen, finally understanding what he was getting at. “Oh, no I’m not—”

“Luckily, I design dresses for both men and women. If you’d like, we can go have a look at the men’s collection I created.”

“Um that’s really amazing of you, and I have nothing against men wearing dresses, but I honestly am just buying a dress for my sister.” 

“Oh.” Henry’s mouth forms a perfect circle. “I’m sorry for assuming. It’s just you don’t seem to know much about your own sister.”

“I know all the important stuff,” Louis huffs, a little offended. “It’s hard to keep up with her since we’re both constantly working.”

“Oh okay, I understand. Again I’m sorry for assuming. I just get a lot of guys who make up stories about buying dresses for someone else, when in reality it’s for them,” Henry explains. “I just want everyone to know that they can feel safe and comfortable here.”

“No need to apologize. It’s actually really admirable that you cater to both men and women. That’s something you don’t see very often.”

Harry smiles brightly, creating a deep dimple on his left cheek.

Suddenly, that same strange déjà vu feeling hits Louis again, and it’s starting to frustrate him because he has no idea what was triggering it.

Louis ignores it once more before mechanically following Henry as he starts to move toward a new rack of dresses.

“So, H do you have any siblings?” Louis asks, trying to sound nonchalant as he studies the man closely.

Henry doesn’t look up at the question, instead he continues on shifting through the various dresses. “Nope.”

_Strike I_

Louis nods thoughtfully. “Hm, you’re lucky. I have a house full of them. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, but they drive me up the wall.”

Henry chuckles, his eyes now on Louis. “I mean that’s what family does right? They can make you crazy, but in the end you still love them.”

“Absolutely,” Louis agrees with him. “Family is forever, like they say.”

Henry grins at him, but it doesn’t reach his eyes, and pulls out a dress from the rack. “You mind holding onto this?”

Louis accepts the dress easily and follows Henry to a few mannequins towards the back.

As Henry surveys the dresses, Louis tries to come up with some more questions. He didn’t want to scare him off so he keeps it simple.

“So, what part of England are you from?”

“London,” Henry answers with no hesitation.

“Oh city boy then?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Henry shrugs. “I love the atmosphere of big cities. You can never get bored. Where are you from?” Henry turns the question back on him. “I’m guessing somewhere from up North?”

“You would be correct,” Louis said impressed. For someone with a faded accent, he seemed to recognize his accent easily. “I’m from Doncaster.”

“I’ve been to Doncaster once,” Henry replies.

“Oh yeah? How’d you like it? It definitely isn’t London, but it’s home.”

“It was great. We only went to get some food, but the people there were very nice.”

“There’s good people in Donny, very hardworking,” Louis explains, his pride showing.

“They are.” Henry confirms with a smile, before turning back to the dress in front of them. “I really like this dress.”

“Well you should, you designed it didn’t you?” Louis said with a smirk.

Henry turns his head to glare at him playfully. “Yes, but I meant for your sister, smartass.”

“Woah, do you talk to all your customers like that? I thought this was a respectable place,” Louis teases.

Henry rolls his eyes, a small smile playing on his face before looking back at the mannequin. “I think this is it. What do you think? The color would look great on her and it’s not too over the top. It’s simple and elegant, perfect for a 21-year-old.”

Louis finally takes his eyes off of Henry and pays attention to the dress in front of them. It was a plain burgundy dress that went all the way to the floor. There was a cutout above the bellybutton that Louis was a little hesitant about since this was for his little sister, but because he was the “cool” big brother, he chooses to let it go.

“It’s gorgeous,” Louis says as he delicately pinches the fabric between his fingers.

“It is isn't it? I designed this back in college.”

Louis looks over the elegant design. “You’re very talented,” he comments, letting the fabric gently drop back down.

“Thank you.” Henry blushes and looks down at his feet. “So, uh do you think your sister will like this one?”

“I think she’ll love it.”

“Great!” Henry claps his hands together. “Before we discuss pricing, I will need your sister’s body measurements so I can make some adjustments to the dress. So, if there’s some way you can—”

Before Harry can finish, his eyes snap over to the front door where a woman has just walked in.

Henry looks down at his watch and winces. “Damn, she’s here early.”

“Is that your next client?” Louis guesses.

“It is, I’m really sorry Louis. I thought she was coming in later.”

“No need to be sorry. I’m the one who came in without an appointment. Could we maybe reschedule or something?” Louis suggests, wanting more time to get some information out of this guy.

“I’m fully booked for the rest of the week, but we can do lunch on Saturday if you’re free?”

Louis nods easily.

“Good, we can meet up around one at this Italian place I know. Let me get your number so I can text you the address.”

Henry hands him his phone and Louis plugs his number into his contacts list.

“Alright here you go.” Louis hands him back the phone.

“It was really nice meeting you Louis, sorry we had to cut this short.” Henry sticks out his hand.

Louis accepts the handshake, ignoring the warmth radiating from his palm. “Don’t worry about it. It was nice meeting you too H.”

They stare at each other for a few more seconds, just mindlessly shaking hands until Henry decides to step away with a timid smile.

“Well, I’ll see you Saturday.”

“I’ll see you then,” Louis says his goodbyes and walks out the door, only looking back once to see Henry already chatting away with his new customer.

\---

For the rest of the week, Louis stayed inside his hotel room, organizing his thoughts. The only time he left the hotel was to either get food or go on his morning jog, but other than that he stayed in.

He jots down every detail he found out about Henry Sullivan in a notebook, making sure not to miss anything.

It felt wrong doing all this behind Henry’s back. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy, which makes lying to him a little bit harder.

Louis hears his phone buzz, so he takes a break from his detective work and checks the message.

 _‘Hey Louis!’_ It was a message from Henry, which he’s been receiving a lot lately.

Louis thought that when he gave his number to him, that they were only going to text each other like maybe once, but surprisingly Henry has actually been texting him every day since they first met.

It was mostly friendly messages like _‘How’s your day?’_ or _‘How are you doing?’_ but Louis appreciated that Henry was keeping in touch and checking up on him.

Their last conversation they had was about the weather, which was so mundane and boring, but Louis didn’t mind it, liking how normal and casual they were with each other even though they’ve only met once.

It takes a minute, but Louis responds with a simple, _‘Hi’._ Louis watches the dots appear, signaling that Henry was typing back.

 _‘Here’s the address for that Italian place I was talking about. It’s in the heart of Greenwich Village, so hopefully it’s not far from where you are.’_ The message was followed with an address that Louis saves to his phone for tomorrow.

 _‘It’s not far at all! See you tmr!’_ He hits sends and let’s his phone fall back onto the bed.

Louis lays back into his pillows and looks over his notebook. The last thing he wrote was ‘HS’ circled in red, with two arrows coming off it, one pointing at the name ‘Henry Sullivan?’ and the second one pointing to ‘Harry Styles?’. Other than that very artistic doodle, the page was mostly bare.

Louis lets out a frustrated sigh, closing up the book and tosses it to the side.

Henry was a mystery. Louis couldn’t find anything on the guy, which is weird since nowadays everything could be found on the internet. There were no social media accounts that were directly linked to him, only an Instagram page for the boutique.

At one point, Louis even searched up Niall, but it was just another dead end.

Louis stares at the ceiling for a few seconds before his eyes start to feel heavy, and then he’s drifting off to sleep.

\---

The sound of rain hitting the window is the first thing he hears when he wakes up.

Louis sits up and looks out above the city, sighing as he sees dark rain clouds filling the sky. No matter where he goes, he can never seem to escape the rain.

There were umbrellas scattered on the streets protecting the heads of the people underneath, and Louis curses himself for forgetting to bring an umbrella of his own.

After a few more seconds of staring moodily out the window, Louis makes his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth, and gets ready to go downstairs to workout at the hotel’s gym.

As much as Louis hated the fact that Gemma spent extra money for him to access the gym, he wasn’t just going to let that money go to waste.

Thankfully the gym wasn’t that full this morning. There were a few people on the treadmills, but that was it.

Louis had already completed half his work out, and now he was finishing up his set of sit-ups for the day. He could practically hear Liam’s praise as he finishes his 30th rep.

By the time Louis was finished, his muscles were throbbing and his hair was a sweaty mess.

As Louis chugs down his water bottle, he hears his phone ring.

“Hello?” Louis answers, his breathing still a little heavy.

“Louis?” Liam’s voice comes through. “Are you okay? Am I interrupting something?” Clearly hinting at his heavy breathing.

Louis catches his suggestive tone and rolls his eyes. “I was just working out.”

“Oh, okay that makes more sense.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Louis said, affronted.

“Nothing, nothing at all,” Liam said airily. “Anyway how’s New York?”

“How’d you know I was in New York?” Louis asks while he wipes off sweat from his eyebrow.

“Gemma told me.”

“Did she tell you why I’m in New York?”

“Yes.”

Louis wasn’t surprised. Gemma was really shit at keeping secrets, so her telling Liam was almost inevitable. “Of course, she did. So, what do you think?”

“I think you’re chasing down a ghost.”

Louis sighs and sits down on a bench. “It definitely feels like I am.”

“I mean you would need a miracle to find him, right? New York is huge! How the hell are you going to find one man out of those thousands of people? And it doesn’t really help that you have zero information on the guy.”

“It’s been hard,” Louis admits, “but I have a lead.”

“You do?” Surprise was evident in Liam’s voice.

“Yeah…kind of. I mean it’s something, I guess. All the evidence I have is insubstantial, so it could lead to nothing, but I just have a feeling.”

“Well, if you say so. I just don’t want you to be wasting your time there when instead you could be having fun in the big city.”

“Liam I’m not here to have fun. I’m here on orders. I can’t just be messing around when the prince could potentially be right around the corner.”

“Come on mate, the chance of you finding Harry Styles is near impossible. You might as well take advantage of your time there. Maybe meet a nice guy and you know,” Liam said with that suggestive tone of his again. Louis imagines that he was wiggling his eyebrows right now.

“I’m not that desperate to get laid Liam. I’m just trying to finish up my job here and get out, hopefully with the prince in tow.”

“How much longer are you staying there?”

“Gemma gave me the rest of this month.”

“Yeah, no, you are not wasting a whole month chasing after a ghost Louis,” Liam said. “You’re better off just going clubbing for the rest of your time there.”

Louis chuckles against his phone. “Liam just let me be. Why are you so adamant about me going out anyway?”

“It’s just been a while since I’ve seen you let go.” Liam takes a pause, like he was contemplating his next words. “After Jack, you stopped going out and having fun. Remember how awesome our pub crawls used to be and we would stay out past midnight? I want that Louis back.”

Louis stopped listening after he said _Jack._

“Liam don’t,” Louis warns. “Just don’t okay. Jack is in the past and I’m over it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go.”

Louis hears Liam call his name, but he hangs up before he gets to hear what he had to say.

There was no time to think about his love life or lack of really. He had too much on his mind already.

It was almost time for Louis’s lunch meeting with Henry and he was having a hard time finding something to wear.

By the time Louis tried on his third outfit, he was wearing black skinny jeans and a blazer. Louis looks into the mirror and suddenly realizes how ridiculous he was being.

This wasn’t a date.

Louis rips off the outfit, and slips on blue jeans and his grey cashmere sweater. He rolls up the sleeves to his elbows and surveys himself in the mirror one last time.

After he deemed himself presentable, Louis grabs his things and leaves the hotel.

The thing about New York that Louis has come to hate already is the traffic. Every street they turned on was jammed with cars, and now Louis was almost 10 minutes late. Plus it was raining making it feel like a longer drive than it actually was.

When Louis finally makes it to the restaurant, he rushes inside, trying not to get soaked in the process.

Once he’s through the doors, Louis shakes off his wet jacket and pushes his damp fringe out of his face.

Louis surveys the room and immediately spots Henry at a table just idly scrolling through his phone.

He was wearing a plain black long-sleeved shirt that was tucked into a pair of white trousers that flared at the bottom. Louis also notices that Henry had quite a few rings littered on his fingers and he briefly wonders if they had any meanings behind them.

Louis quickly runs his fingers through his hair, probably messing it up more than it already was, and then makes his way over to him.

His shoes were squeaking obnoxiously loud on the tiled floor so it’s not long before Harry looks up at the noise. “Louis, you made it,” he said with a smile.

“I’m so sorry I’m late. I forgot about traffic.” Louis puts his wet jacket on the back of his chair and sits across from him.

“It’s fine. I just got here a couple minutes ago too.”

Louis doubts that. There was already a nearly empty glass of wine next to Henry, suggesting that he’s been there for a while.

Henry follows his eyes. “Oh, uh yeah I already ordered some wine while I was waiting for you,” he admits, sheepishly. “Sorry about that. It’s been a long week.”

“Is everything okay?” Louis decides to ask, noticing the tension in Henry’s shoulders.

“It’s nothing just a bad client is all.”

“Ah, let me guess some spoiled rich lady who is asking far too much and needs everything to be perfect?”

Harry laughs, which Louis wouldn’t mind hearing all day. “Kind of, but the ‘spoiled rich lady’ is ten years old.”

“Ten? Seriously? You couldn’t handle a ten-year-old?” Louis quirks up an eyebrow, amused.

“Look she was a very terrifying ten-year-old,” Henry argues. “She was practically barking orders at me while I was trying to hem her dress yesterday. She even told me my voice was annoying because I talk too slow,” he pouts.

“To be fair she has a point.”

Henry let’s out an affronted noise. “Hey!”

“I’m joking!” Louis laughs. “I think your slow drawl is actually very endearing.”

Henry stares at him with an unimpressed look. “You’re not funny.”

Louis takes a moment to giggle against the back of his hand. “So, where was this girl’s mother?” Louis asks once he calms down.

“She was just sitting there on her phone while her daughter bullied me! I was so tempted in kicking them both out of my shop.” Henry gulps down the last of his wine.

“You should have. They sound like pricks.”

“I wish, but they are paying customers so I couldn’t really do anything. Then on top of that I have dozens of orders that I’m behind on and at the same time I’m trying to design my new collection for the spring, which I’m lacking inspiration for. It’s just been such a mess." Henry groans, sinking down into his seat, and then stares at Louis with wide eyes as if he just realized something. “Oh my god, I’ve been rambling about my awful week, which you probably don’t care about, and we haven’t even ordered food yet. I’m so sorry.” Henry hides his face behind his hands in embarrassment.

Louis is tempted to reach over and comfort him, but he manages to refrain.

“Hey, H it’s okay. Don’t feel embarrassed. I actually liked hearing about your hectic week. Mine was so boring. I just stayed in my hotel room the whole time.”

Henry pries his hands away, a blush evident on his face. “I’m such a mess,” he chuckles softly, as he composes himself. “This is so unprofessional of me, I’m so sorry.”

Louis smiles kindly at him. “Stop apologizing, it’s okay.” He pauses when he sees the waiter coming toward them. “Let’s order some food and then we can continue from there yeah?”

Henry nods in agreement and starts recommending some dishes to Louis.

After that it was like they broke some kind of barrier and now they were talking freely, without any of that awkwardness.

Louis came to find that Henry was a really easy person to talk to. It was like talking to a longtime friend, which was weird since they just met a few days ago.

“Wow this looks great.” Louis’s mouth is practically watering when the waiter puts the plate of spaghetti in front of him.

“Thank you,” Henry addresses the waiter with a polite smile before turning back to Louis. “It tastes amazing too. Hands down the best spaghetti and meatballs I’ve ever had.”

“Really? Well, I’ll be the judge of that.” Louis stabs his fork in and makes sure to get a little bit of everything before putting it in his mouth.

Henry watches him carefully, gaging his reaction.

Louis tries to scold his facial features, but a smile breaks out on his face anyway.

“Told you!” Henry shouts victoriously before digging into his own food.

Louis smiles around his fork. He definitely was not fonding over this man. Not at all.

They eat in silence, but it wasn’t that awkward kind of silence; it was comfortable. They occasionally would throw each other sly glances, looking away when they made eye contact.

“So,” Henry wipes the corner of his mouth with a napkin, “where are you staying, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“At the Baccarat hotel. Do you know it?”

“Uh yeah, of course. It’s one of the nicest hotels in Manhattan.” Henry looks at him curiously before resting his elbows the table. “You know I don’t think you ever told me why you’re in New York?”

Louis sips his water before answering. “I’m on a business trip. I work for an ad agency in London, but they sent me here to settle some things.”

“Well, whoever you work for they must love you a lot because Baccarat is definitely not cheap.”

“Yeah, they do.” Louis grins down at the table, before looking back up with a sense of confidence. “Now since we’re getting to know each other—”

“Oh, is that what’s happening right now?” Henry asks, an amused smile on his face.

“I mean, I think I deserve to know a little about the designer who’s selling me my sister’s dress, if that’s alright of course?”

Henry nods, bringing the glass of wine to his lips. “Ask away then.”

Louis leans back into his chair and thinks of a question. When he thought of one, Louis stares right at the younger man. “What got you into fashion?”

Henry smiles against his glass, before putting it back down. “I like clothes.”

Louis stares at him, waiting for more but nothing comes. “That’s it?”

“Yeah.” Henry shrugs his shoulders. “Ever since I was little, I used clothes to express who I was. It was always a thrill whenever I wore something new, and it was like an addiction. At first, I would just design clothes for myself, but then I started to make clothes for some of my friends and they always loved everything I made, so that’s when I realized that I could make a career out of this. I graduated with a bachelors in fashion design and here I am now.”

“Rich and successful?”

“Exactly,” Henry responds cheekily with a toothy grin.

Louis smiles, instantly charmed. “That’s really amazing H. I bet your family is really proud of you.”

That’s when Louis sees it. It was only a brief second, but he think’s he saw Henry tense up. It's the first time Louis's seen a crack in Henry's perfect demeanor. 

Henry nods stiffly with a tight smile.

“When’s the last time you went home?” Louis decides to ask, wanting to dig a little more.

“I am home,” Henry answers with a straight face, his voice unnervingly steady.

“I meant England actually.”

Henry’s fingers play around with the silverware in front of him, avoiding eye contact. “England is not my home anymore. It hasn’t been for a long time now.”

Louis crosses his arms on the table and leans forward. “Why?”

Henry’s finger’s stop moving and he looks up.

Louis almost has to do a double take at the man in front of him. It was like all the warmth was sucked out, and now he was left with this unrecognizable man.

His eyes were a dull green, not like a few minutes ago when they were bright and full of light. His face was stoic, and his facial features were sharper than usual, making him look like he was made of stone.

“I rather not talk about it actually.”

Louis shivers at his voice. “Okay, I’m sorry if I was overstepping.”

Henry stares at Louis for a few more seconds, making Louis uneasy as he awkwardly shifts in his chair.

Finally, Henry clears his throat and looks away. “So, shall we finally get back to business? Do you have your sister’s measurements for me?”

Louis almost gets whiplash at the sudden topic change. Nevertheless, Louis gives him his sister’s body measurements that he managed to get from his mom.

While Louis watches Henry look over the numbers, he can’t help but feel like he took a step back. Henry was definitely not comfortable talking about his life back in England, but Louis needed to think of something to get him to open up more without him closing up like he just did.

“Henry, I really am sorry if I upset you,” Louis tries apologizing again after a moment of silence.

Henry looks up, this time with a small smile and warmth settling back into his eyes. “It’s okay. I’m sorry I was being weird.”

“No don’t apologize. I shouldn’t have pried into your life like that.”

“It’s fine.” Henry shrugs, before handing Louis a piece of paper. “So, I did some calculations and here is the estimated price of the dress after I do the alterations.”

Louis takes a look at the price and manages to scold his facial expressions. $500 was the total price for the dress.

He understands it’s a high fashion dress, but holy shit do people actually pay for this? Thankfully the allowance Gemma gave him will cover this, because there was no way he was going to be able to pay for this with his own money.

“Alright this is good,” Louis nods.

“It’s not too much is it? This is the usual price I ask for with most of my clients. We can always lower it if—”

Louis stops him before he can even get the words out. “H, it’s fine really.”

Henry visibly relaxes. “Okay, so um when is your last day here?”

“Last Monday of the month.”

Henry pulls out his phone to look at his calendar. “It’s going to be tight, but I can get it done by then. I only have to do small adjustments anyway.”

“Thanks a lot H.”

“Of course.” Henry looks down at their plates and realizes that they were both done their meals. “Do you want to order some dessert? They have a really good chocolate cake.”

Louis agrees easily. The more time he can spend with Henry, the better…for the investigation of course.

They order two slices of chocolate cake and in between bites they make small talk here and there.

Louis makes sure to avoid topics that had to do with England. He didn’t want a repeat of whatever that was with Henry earlier.

Something that Louis has noticed about Henry through their conversations is that he’s a really good listener. He doesn’t talk much, but he always seemed interested in whatever Louis had to say, so that was nice.

On the surface Henry was this kind and sweet man, but there was something else; there _had_ to be something else. Everyone has secrets, and Louis was eager to find out what his were.

“So, wait you have all this free time and yet you haven’t been to any tourist spot in New York yet?!” Henry looked at him like he was crazy.

“Yeah, I know. I’m just not familiar with the city, so I’m kind of hesitant to go off by myself.”

Henry stays quiet, looking at Louis with a thoughtful look. “Okay I’ll do it.”

Louis looks at him confused. “Do what?”

“I’ll be your tour guide.” Henry smiles with his teeth showing.

“H, you really don’t have to do that.”

“It’s honestly no problem. What kind of New Yorker would I be if didn’t show you around my city?”

 _New Yorker? His city?_ Louis almost wants to argue with him that even though he’s been living in New York for several years now, he was still technically British.

Instead Louis just grins. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“Of course, I am. I'm the one who asked after all. So, how does tomorrow sound?”

Louis nods, knowing far too well that he was free on any day.

“Perfect. I have one appointment tomorrow at nine in the morning so we can meet up at the store if that’s okay with you?”

“That sounds good. Thank you for doing this H.”

Louis was silently cheering in his head. Spending another day with Henry could mean he could finally get the answers he was looking for. It also didn’t hurt that Henry was a nice person to spend time with.

“No problem! I’m actually really excited to show you around the city. We can go to all the usual tourist spots, but I know some cool hidden gems that I can show you. If the weather is not like today then we can go to Central Park and then maybe we can go to the ice rink. We have to go shopping so I’ll take you to my favorite mall and then…”

Louis kind of stops listening after that point. Henry was clearly very excited to show him around the city, and it was kind of adorable.

Henry’s eyes were bright, and he was gesticulating wildly, as if he couldn’t physically contain his excitement. He didn’t even notice that Louis wasn’t even paying attention anymore.

Louis rests his chin on his palm and watches with amusement as Henry prattles on. “You sure ramble a lot don’t you?”

Henry abruptly stops talking and he looks at Louis, sheepishly. “Sorry, um I talk a lot when I get excited or nervous.”

“It’s okay. It’s actually kind of cute.” The words come out before Louis can stop them.

“It’s really not,” Henry chuckles, awkwardly, a slight flush on his cheeks. “Anyway, since I clearly have a lot planned for us, I’ll make some kind of itinerary, so I can show you as much of New York as I can.”

“You’re really taking this whole tour guide thing seriously huh?”

“Of course! I’m about to be the best damn tour guide you’ve ever met,” Henry said with a very convincing confidence.

Louis bites his bottom lip, trying to suppress a fond smile. “I have no doubt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Henry Sullivan is quite a character don't you think ;)  
> Anyway, I hope you guys are liking the story so far. It's kind of a slow-burn, so hang in there.  
> If you have any questions about the story, you can leave them down below, and if you're liking the story so far please leave a kudos! 
> 
> Hope ya'll have a good week! See you next Friday! 
> 
> -DJN  
> Follow me on Twitter @LTHSFICS for updates or if you just want to chat!


	3. Strike II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PREVIEW 
> 
> Being with Henry felt freeing, and made him feel light. It almost reminded Louis of the time when he was six and his dad took him to his first ever football match. He just remembers feeling so overwhelmingly happy, and that’s what he’s feeling right now as he walks beside Henry through Central Park.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! This chapter is pure fluff, so I hope ya'll enjoy!
> 
> *I also just want to say that this story has nothing to do with what's happening right now with the actual Royal family. It's just a coincidence that all of that is happening as I post this story.*
> 
> -DJN

**__ **

**_Sunday, 14 th February 2021_ **

Louis doesn’t know if it was the weather or something else, but he was in a really good mood.

He had a surprisingly nice time with Henry yesterday, and he was looking forward to find out what he has planned for them today on their tour.

The sun was hidden by clouds, but tiny streams of sunlight managed to sneak through, casting some much-needed light onto the city. It wasn’t as cold as it has been like the past few days, but it was cold enough that Louis was wearing his black jacket with a fur-lined hoodie. 

It was a good day to be outside, so Louis was hoping Henry had included walking in Central Park in the itinerary. Maybe they could even go ice skating together, that would be fun.

Louis pauses as soon as the thought crosses his mind. He closes his eyes, and releases a breath.

 _I’m Officer Louis Tomlinson. Part of the Royal Protection Squad. Sworn to protect Princess Gemma,_ Louis repeats it in his head three more times before opening his eyes again.

Occasionally, Louis has to remind himself that he was here to do a job. He couldn’t let himself get sucked into this false narrative that he created. Henry was just a potential lead that he was following up on, nothing more.

After Louis takes another second to get himself in check, he continues his walk toward the boutique, the golden letters sparkling from the sun as he gets closer.

As Louis walks through the doors of HS, he immediately spots Niall, who was changing the mannequins near the door.

“Hard at work I see,” Louis comments as he walks towards him.

“Was that sarcasm I heard?” Niall asks, still fiddling with the dress on display, making sure it looked presentable.

“Not at all.” Louis leans back, watching him. “Playing dress up is _really_ hard work.”

Niall looks back, with a glare. “Well, aren’t you cheeky this morning.”

“Just in a good mood I guess.”

Niall finishes dressing the mannequin and shifts his attentions towards Louis. “Does that have anything to do with your date with H today?”

Louis’s eyes widen. “What? I-It’s not a date,” he sputters.

Niall starts laughing. “I’m only joking mate.”

Louis ignores the warmth on his cheeks. “Right,” he chuckles out.

“When H told me about it though, I got to be honest, I thought it was a date at first since you know it’s Valentine’s Day…” Niall continues, but Louis stops listening, his lips turning into a frown.

He completely forgot about Valentine’s Day.

Louis looks over Niall’s shoulder and suddenly notices the strings of hearts hanging from the ceiling, and pink and red roses scattered through the store. He even sees a cutout of cupid hanging from the wall. Henry must take Valentine’s Day seriously then.

Louis tunes back into Niall when he realizes he was still speaking. “…but then he explained to me how it was part of his ‘duty’ as a long-time resident of New York to show his fellow Brit around the best city in America,” Niall finishes.

“He really loves New York huh?”

“He does,” Niall confirms with a small smile. “He’s lived here longer than he’s lived in England.”

Louis, intrigued, leans in closer to Niall. “You seem to be really close with him. Have you guys known each other long?”

Niall nods. “Oh yeah. I’ve known H since freshmen year of college. We’ve been best friends since.”

“Are you a fashion designer too?” Louis asks. 

“Nah, I went into the management and business side of fashion. When H told me about his plan to build his own brand, and that he wanted me to help, I didn’t even hesitate to say yes.”

“Getting to run a business with your best friend must be really cool, right?”

“It’s been a dream job.” Niall fondly smiles, and Louis could tell that he really cared for Henry. “I honestly don’t know what I would be doing if it wasn’t for H.”

It was very clear to Louis, that Niall was probably the closest person to Henry. It’s very possible that he might know some things about Henry that nobody else knows.

Louis ponders over it for a minute. He wanted to ask Niall something, but he didn’t know if it was a good idea.

Deciding to take the chance, Louis opens his mouth. “Niall, do you know why Henry doesn’t go back home to England? I tried asking him about it yesterday, but he just closed up on me.”

Niall visibly tenses up. “Yeah, he tends to do that,” he sighs.

“But why?”

“It’s really not my story to tell,” Niall says, looking a little more nervous than he was a few minutes ago.

Louis knows he’s pushing it with all these questions, but he can’t stop now, knowing that he was so close. “I understand that, but it would be nice to get a little context of what happened. I don’t want to accidentally bring something up again that will offend or upset Henry.”

Niall sighs out loud. “Look Louis, you seem like a nice guy, but I barely know you, so I'm not just going to tell you H’s business. Sorry,” Niall said, looking apologetic. “Maybe one day, if you stay long enough and gain H’s trust, he might tell you."

Louis doesn’t have time for that. He needs answers now. “But why can’t you just—”

“Louis, you’re here!” Henry’s voice interrupts him.

Louis curses his timing. Of course, Henry shows up just before he started to get somewhere with Niall.

When Louis turns around, that feeling of annoyance quickly dissipates, and is replaced with a sort of calmness.

Henry was stood there looking at him with warm eyes and a kind smile. In his hair was a small flower crown made with pink flowers which complimented the soft pink sweater he was wearing.

Something about the image was so serene.

“Good morning H,” Louis greets with a soft smile.

“Morning, happy Valentine’s day!” Henry said, his voice cheerful. “I hope you weren’t waiting too long.”

“Not at all. Plus I’ve had Niall here to keep me company.”

Henry gives Niall a look that Louis tries to read, but it’s gone as fast as it came.

“I’m still in with my customer, but you can come to the back and shadow me if you’d like?” Henry asks.

“Oh no, that’s alright. I don’t want to be in your way.”

“You won’t, I promise,” Henry assures him. “Come on.” He waves him over before turning around and walking into the backroom.

Louis looks at Niall with a questioned look.

“Just go mate.” Niall playfully shoves him forward.

Louis listens and heads in the direction that he saw Henry go in.

When Louis walks into the room, he’s pleasantly surprised to see two familiar faces.

“Louis!” Jasmine shouts when she catches his reflection in the mirror.

“Jasmine!” Louis walks over and crouches down to give the little girl a cuddle. “It’s so good to see you again.”

He notices she was still wearing the same dress he saw her in when they first met, but this time there was a long tear down the side of the gown.

“Now what in the world happened to your dress?” Louis asks.

“She tore it while going down the slide.” Jasmine’s mom chimes in from where she was sat in a comfortable looking armchair. “I told her not to wear it, but she didn’t listen.”

“I know, and I said I was sorry, but Mr. H said he can fix it! Just in time for Valentine’s day! Right Mr. H?” Jasmine points over to Henry who was just standing there watching the interaction with what looked like fondness, but also confusion.

When Henry realizes the attention was on him, he snaps out of it. “Oh yes, of course. We can’t have you waltzing around on Valentine’s Day without your lovely dress,” Henry said, making Jasmine giggle. “How do you guys know each other by the way?”

Louis opens his mouth to answer, but Jasmine’s mom beats him to it. “We were the ones who told Louis here about your store.”

“Well thank you for bringing me business.” Henry thanks her with cheeky wink.

Louis silently let’s out a breath of relief when Jasmine’s mom doesn’t reveal any more information from their conversation a couple days ago.

It probably would have been a smart idea to keep his story the same throughout this whole thing, but Louis honestly wasn’t expecting to see Jasmine or her mom again.

Looks like New York City wasn’t that big after all.

“You’re buying your sister a dress, right? Can I help choose?” Jasmine asks, her big brown eyes staring up at Louis.

“Actually I already made my decision a few days ago. I’m just here because Mr. H promised me a tour of the city today.”

“That’s nice of him. Do you think I can come with? I know everything about New York!” Jasmine said, her excitement infectious as Louis sees her eyes light up.

“Jasmine honey, I think this is a _personal_ tour.” Jasmine’s mom discreetly winks at Louis.

Louis, confused, looks over at Henry who looked just as confused as him.

Henry looks away, and clears his throat. “Okay Ms. Jasmine, let’s work on stitching up your dress, shall we?” He gestures for Jasmine to come stand in front of the mirror so he can start sewing the rip.

As they’re busy doing that, Louis walks over to Jasmine’s mom. “You have a great kid, you know?”

“I know, she’s pretty amazing even when she doesn’t listen to me.” They both chuckle at that. “So, is this the prince you’ve been looking for?”

Louis freezes for a second. “What?”

“You told me you were looking for your own prince charming back at the café. Is this him?”

Louis relaxes at her words. “Oh, no he’s not. He’s just a friend, I suppose.”

Were they friends? They’ve only known each other for only a few days, but Louis would like to think they’re friends. Henry was kind and sweet, a type of person that Louis would love to have as a friend. God knows, he doesn’t have many of those.

“So, this ‘tour’ he’s taking you on is just a tour of the city?”

“Yes.” Louis nods slowly. “What did you think we—oh.”

At least Jasmine’s mom has the decency to blush. “Sorry, I just assumed. It’s Valentine’s Day and the way he was staring at you made me think there was something more going on there.”

“The way he was staring at me?”

“Yeah, I guess I was just seeing things.” She laughs it off, but Louis was still very confused.

Louis decides to leave it alone and looks over at Henry who was kneeling besides Jasmine as he fixes her dress.

It was kind of fascinating watching him work. He had a small crease between his eyes, while his long fingers were delicately threading the needle through the fabric.

Louis could tell that H really loved his job, and he seemed to be really damn good at it.

“You know he’s doing this for free,” Jasmine’s mom points out.

“He is?”

She nods. “It’s really nice of him, isn’t it? I mean how many fashion designers do you know that will do something like this for free?”

_None._

“Yeah, it’s pretty amazing of him,” Louis said with wonder as he watches Henry laugh at something with Jasmine.

“You know, if you don’t want him to be your prince, I would be more than happy to take him for you.” Jasmine’s mom elbows him, jokingly.

Louis was too busy watching Henry, that he didn’t even clock the comment.

“I’m going to miss you so much Louis,” Jasmine said as Louis hugs her good bye.

“And I’m going to miss you too.” Louis backs away to look at her. “Be good to your mum and listen to her alright?”

“I promise! No more wearing my dress to the playground anymore.”

Jasmine’s mom takes her by the hand and they say their final goodbyes.

“Thank you again, Mr. H,” Jasmine says as her mom tries to direct her towards the exit.

“You’re very welcome Ms. Jasmine.” Henry waves goodbye, and Louis can’t help but look over at him with fondness. He was developing a soft spot for this man, and Louis doesn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.

“Oh, and I hope you find your prince Louis!” Jasmine yells out, before she’s being led out the door and back into the busy sidewalks of New York.

Once they were out of their line of sight, Louis turns to face Henry who had an inquisitive look on his face.

“Your prince?” Henry asks.

“Oh, uh yeah.” Louis scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. “I told them I was looking for my own prince charming.”

Henry smirks, amused. “Oh yeah?”

Louis does his best not to blush. “I mean aren’t we all looking for that one person?” he tries to reason.

“I guess.” Henry shrugs. “But _prince charming_ , really?” His one eyebrow arches up.

“What’s so bad about prince charming?” Louis laughs softly at the distaste on Henry’s face. “Isn’t finding your own prince or princess everyone’s fairytale ending?”

Henry crinkles his nose, while he shakes his head. “Princes are so overrated. People think that they’re this perfect human being. Well guess what; humans aren’t perfect,” he huffs.

Louis stares at Henry for a moment, kind of amused at how passionate he was about this. “I guess you’re right. No one can ever be perfect, including a prince. Fairytale books really gave us high expectations huh?”

“Yes, they do,” Henry agrees. “We should start a petition to ban all fairytale books on the pretense that they are filling our children’s minds with unrealistic views about relationships.”

“Oh yes, I one-hundred percent agree. Shame on all those authors for deceiving our youth,” Louis said in his best faux posh accent.

They both manage to keep straight faces for a minute before they start bursting out in laughter.

“God, that was so dumb.” Henry giggles, trying to control his laughter.

“I don’t know. I think we might be on to something,” Louis was smiling so much his cheeks were starting to hurt.

When Henry looks back up with sparkles in his eyes, Louis almost makes the mistake of losing himself in them, but thankfully Niall comes over and interrupts them. “So, where are you two heading off to first?”

“Yeah, what do you have planned for us, Sullivan?” Louis asks.

“Well, I actually have an errand to run first, so you’ll have to come with me there.”

“I _have_ to?” Louis quirks an eyebrow up, amused.

“Yes,” he says confidently. “I'm the tour guide so you have to listen to whatever I say.” Henry shoots him a cheeky wink, before prancing off toward the back.

Louis’ eyes follow the flamboyant man until he disappears, leaving Niall and him alone.

When Louis looks back at Niall, he’s already staring back at him with a knowing look.

“What?” Louis asks, a little unnerved by the way Niall was looking at him.

Niall leans against the register counter and crosses his arms in front of him. “I know you said this wasn’t a date, but did _you_ want this to be a date?”

“What?!” Louis shouts, but immediately lowers his volume when he realizes Henry was just a few meters away from them. “Of course, I don’t. This is just a friendly gesture that I took him up on. He probably gives tours like this to many of his clients, right?”

Niall stays silent, choosing not to answer that question. He steps up to Louis and places a hand on his shoulder. “Just be careful with him yeah? He’s a pretty sensitive guy, so promise me you won’t hurt him.”

There was something in Niall’s eyes that almost looked like fear. Louis doesn’t know what Niall would be afraid of, but he decides to ease whatever worries he might be having. “I promise I won’t hurt him,” Louis said with a serious tone.

The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Henry. Louis doesn’t even know how anyone could be mean or purposefully hurt that man, but Niall's behavior right now suggests that someone in his past did just that.

Henry comes out a few minutes later, struggling to walk with a pile of black garment bags in his arms. Louis immediately comes over to relieve him. When Henry dumps the bags in his arms, Louis almost falls back, not expecting it to be that heavy.

Not wanting to seem like a wimp, Louis strengthens his leg muscles and loses the grimace on his face.

 _Why are these so heavy?_ Louis puts on a fake smile, ignoring the ache in his back.

“My car is in the back, so we can stuff all of this in the trunk,” Henry explains as he gathers his coat and slips on his gloves.

Instead of asking questions, Louis just goes along with it, and follows Henry out.

Louis let’s out a low whistle when he sees the black Range Rover parked in the back. Looks like being a successful fashion designer in New York pays well, who would have guessed?

Henry opens up the boot of his car and Louis practically collapses on top of the dresses as he plops them down.

Louis picks himself up and looks up at Henry who looked like he was holding in a laugh. “You know you could have told me if it was too heavy. I would have gladly carried half.”

Louis shake his head, vehemently. “No, it wasn’t heavy at all,” he said slightly out of breath.

Henry smiles while he bites down on his bottom lip. “Alright, get in the car.”

Once Louis gets into the passenger seat, he buckles up and watches as Henry settles behind the wheel.

“So, where we going?” Louis asks as Henry pulls out of the parking space.

“Brooklyn.”

“What’s in Brooklyn?”

Louis watches a small grin make it’s way on Henry’s face. “You ask too many questions.”

“I just asked two!” Louis argues.

“Yeah, two too many. Come on, don’t you trust me?” Henry glances over at him briefly to shoot him a pout paired with his innocent wide eyes.

Louis refuses to be charmed. “No, not really. For all I know you could be a serial killer who designs dresses on his off days.”

Henry just settles back in his chair and laughs. “You’re in safe hands Lou. Now stop your worrying and relax.” He reaches over and turns on the radio which starts playing some pop song Louis forgot the name of.

Louis stares hard at his profile, before letting out a sigh and relaxing back in his chair, his eyes now focused out the window.

It takes about thirty minutes to get to their destination. For most of the ride, it was quiet. Henry would occasionally comment on any landmarks they would pass by, but that was about it.

Louis was trying to come up with something to say, but it’s like his brain shut off once he entered that car. There was just something about this man that made him incoherent.

The parking lot they were in was practically empty. In front of them is what Louis assumes is a warehouse. It was large and fairly old, with visible cracks on the exterior brick walls.

Louis had no idea where they were since there weren’t any defining signs outside. The only thing that was on there were the words, _‘Nia's Plaza',_ above the double glass doors.

“Alright, I’ll be right back,” Henry said as he unbuckles his seatbelt, and reaches for the door handle.

“Woah wait.” Louis stops him. “Am I not coming with you?”

“Oh, um you don’t have to. I’m just going to drop these dresses off.”

Something in the way Henry was looking at him made Louis think he might not want him to tag along, which made Louis want to come with him even more.

“Okay, I’ll help you carry them in.” Louis doesn’t wait for an answer and gets out of the car, already shutting the door before Henry can get out a single word.

This time Henry makes sure to split the dresses into two piles so he can carry one while Louis carries the other.

Once they were inside the building, Louis quickly realizes that this was a department store of sorts. There were racks of clothes everywhere, and shelves full of shoes and purses were lined up against the walls.

The place was empty, but Louis suspects it’s because it was still early. Judging by how scuffed up the floor was, many people probably come through here to shop.

“Ms. Nia!?” Henry calls out into the building.

It takes a few minutes, but Louis hears footsteps coming from the back of the store.

“H? Is that you sweetheart?” An older woman with a thick Brooklyn accent makes her way over with a blinding smile.

Louis stands back and watches the two of them embrace. The woman starts going on about how Henry looked a bit skinny and should eat more, reminding Louis of his own grandmother. Henry just laughs as he gently holds her hand in his.

Whoever she was, Louis could tell that they cared a lot for one another.

The woman finally tears her eyes away from Henry and realizes that it wasn’t just the two of them there.

“Oh hello.” She smiles kindly at him. “Who is this handsome man, H?”

“Louis Tomlinson,” Louis introduces himself. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Nia I presume?”

“Yes, you would be correct, and my goodness you are attractive! I mean that accent is so sexy!” Nia practically swoons, making Louis blush profusely.

“Ms. Nia!” Henry whines, also sporting a blush of his own.

“What? He’s just so pretty. He is definitely a step up from that last boy you dated.” Ms. Nia turns to Louis and whispers, “Honestly that guy was a real asshole. Cared more about his shoes than taking care of this one over here.” She points her thumb at Henry who looked like he wanted to sink into the floor and disappear.

“We’re just friends!” Henry said a bit too loud, making both of them jump. Henry realizes his mistake and clears his throat. “I-I mean we’re um…”

Louis watches Henry struggle to find his words, so he decides to intervene. “We’re friends,” he affirms, making sure to give Harry a reassuring smile. “He’s actually going to show me around the city today.”

“How lovely! H, here knows the city well. You’re in safe hands.”

“That’s good to know. I was afraid H was going to toss me in the back of an alley or something.”

Ms. Nia cackles, clutching onto Louis like he said the funniest thing she’s ever heard.

“Haha very funny, but Ms. Nia can you please tell us where you want these?” Henry gestures to the dresses in his arms.

“Oh yes! Let’s just put them on this empty rack over here.” Ms. Nia rolls the rack over. “I know I haven’t seen them yet, but I know the kids will absolutely love them. They’re always the first dresses to go.”

“Kids?” Louis questions as he hangs the last garment bag on there.

“H didn’t tell you? Every year I hold a donation drive for prom dresses to give to those kids that can’t afford one, and every year H donates a couple dresses that he doesn’t need. He’s the only designer in SoHo who participates. The rest are too stuck up.”

Louis snaps his eyes up to Henry who was just standing there with his hands behind his back, looking bashful.

Before Louis can say something, Ms. Nia starts to talk again. “You two have to have some of my chocolate covered strawberries. I made some for my customers today, but I can spare some for you two.”

“Oh, Ms. Nia that’s okay. We were—”

Henry gets interrupted when Ms. Nia shoves a tray of chocolate covered strawberries into his hands. “Alright, you two can have one each. Let me go get you guys some napkins.”

They watch Ms. Nia disappear somewhere in the back until it was just the two of them.

“Well, it would be rude not to,” Louis says as he takes out a strawberry and takes a bite, letting the chocolate melt into his mouth. “Mmm, this is good. You need to try one H.” Louis licks his lips before he goes in for a second bite.

When Henry doesn’t answer, Louis looks back up, finding Henry just standing there watching him.

“What?” Louis asks, now feeling a little self-conscious.

Henry gestures to the corner of his mouth. “You um have some chocolate right there.”

Louis for some reason, decides to use his tongue to get try to rid of the chocolate instead of using his hand.

Henry starts to laugh as he watches Louis struggle to get rid of the speck of chocolate. “Oh my god, you look so ridiculous,” he chuckles. “Your tongue won’t be able to reach that spot.”

“Oh my tongue can reach a lot of spots, don’t you worry.” The innuendo leaves Louis’s lips before he can stop it. He should really think before he says anything.

Henry licks his lips, and a smirk plays along his lips. “Oh really? What kind of _spots_ Louis?”

Louis just stands there his mouth opening before closing back up, not knowing what to say.

“Come here.” Henry beckons him over, and Louis easily moves forward, like his legs were thinking for themselves.

Henry’s teeth were biting down on his bottom lip as he lifts up his right hand to Louis’s face and wipes off the chocolate himself with his thumb. “There, all clean.” Then Louis has to suppress a groan when he watches Henry bring his thumb up to his mouth and licks it. “You’re right this is _really_ good.”

Louis gulps, wondering if Henry realizes what he’s doing to him. Arousal starts to radiate through Louis’s body, and he really needed Henry to move back because the smell of warm vanilla was not helping. Louis would move himself, but it seems like his legs have stopped working.

Thankfully, before things could get any more embarrassing for Louis, Ms. Nia comes back with napkins in hand.

Henry gives Louis one last long look, before turning around to Ms. Nia.

Louis at this point is fully convinced that Henry was out to kill him.

After they left Nia's Plaza _,_ Henry takes him to a food truck nearby to get some lunch. It wasn’t too chilly out so they found a table outside and sat down there.

Louis sips on his chocolate milkshake while he watches Henry chew on his burger.

Henry of course notices this, since Louis wasn’t even trying to be subtle. “Why are you staring at me?” he asks once he swallows his food. “Do I have something on my face?”

“No, sorry just…you’re kind of incredible you know?”

Henry freezes in the middle of wiping his mouth with a napkin. “What?”

“I mean, first you sewed Jasmine’s dress for free and then you gave away dresses to help those kids who can’t afford one. It takes a special type of person to do stuff like that.”

“Oh, um it’s honestly not a big deal,” Henry said sheepishly, a nice pretty flush painted on his cheeks. “I get it from my mom, I guess. She always taught me to give back to people who were less fortunate, and it’s just stuck with me.”

“Well, your mother raised you right.” Louis plops a chip in his mouth. “She’s still in England, right? Do you miss her?”

“Every day,” Henry said as he looks down at the table below them.

“Why don’t you just go back to England for a little while and visit her? I bet Niall can take care of the store while you’re gone.”

Henry’s hands clench into fists, making his knuckles go white. “I wish I could.” His voice was cold, similar to how it was back at the restaurant.

Louis can tell by his tone that he was about to close up again, so he decides to change subjects. “Hey this food is really good by the way. How’d you find this place?”

That seemed to work since Henry’s fists unclench, and he starts explaining to Louis how he came to find this food truck.

Honestly, Louis really didn’t care, but seeing Henry with a smile back on his face was rewarding.

Obviously, Louis wanted to prod more into Henry’s life and get to know him more, but at the same time he didn’t want to overstep and freak him out. Like Niall said, Henry is a sensitive guy, so Louis needs to just take this easy, and try not to force anything.

A few minutes go by, and somehow, they’ve ended up playing twenty questions.

“What’s your favorite place to travel to?” Louis asks for his turn. So, far he’s found out Henry’s favorite fruit is strawberries, his favorite animal is a whale, and he likes boxing for exercise, which created lovely images in Louis’s head.

Henry purses his lips, deep in thought. “Um, I don’t travel much, since we’re so busy, but I love going to California. I usually go for work, but occasionally me and Niall will just head over there for a much-needed vacation.”

“That’s nice, but um I was thinking more along the lines of favorite country?”

“I just said I don’t travel much in _this_ country; you really think I have time to travel around the world?”

Louis shrugs. “I mean as a fashion designer, don’t you travel a lot to different countries for like fashion shows and whatever else fashion designers do.”

Henry laughs brightly. “I suppose some do, but I like supporting small designers and artists here. I admire big companies like Gucci, Burberry and Louis Vuitton, but they already have all the success they need. I rather go to small fashion shows held at the local university than fashion week in somewhere like Paris.”

“Hey, Paris is gorgeous.” Louis defends the city of love.

Henry wrinkles his nose slightly. “I guess.”

“You guess?!” Louis was honestly shocked. He thought someone like Henry would love a city like Paris.

“Yeah, I mean Paris is a lovely city, but it’s just so touristy. There’s so many other places you can go in France.”

“Okay, what’s your favorite place to visit in France then?”

Henry pauses for a moment, before ultimately shaking his head. “I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been to France.”

“What?” Louis laughs. “You were just acting like you knew everything about France, and now you’re telling me you haven’t been?”

“Nope, I just watch a lot of travel vloggers. It’s like I can live vicariously through them.”

Louis stares at him, trying to detect any signs suggesting that he was lying. “So, you have never been to France? Ever?”

Henry confirms it with a shake of his head. “No, I’ve never been.”

_Strike II_

Louis takes a sip of his milkshake, trying to disguise his disappointment.

So, so far Henry apparently doesn’t have any siblings and hasn’t been to France. He could easily be lying, but Louis couldn’t be sure. He usually has a good sense on when people lie, but with Henry it was different. He couldn’t get a good read on him.

Henry finishes his last bite of food and stands up. “Okay, are you up for that tour now?”

Louis looks up and finds Henry’s big green eyes looking down at him. Even though Louis wasn’t getting the answers he needed, that look Henry was giving him was filling him with excitement.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Louis stands up, ready to follow Henry.

As much as Louis wants to ignore it, a whole day hanging out with Henry Sullivan, didn’t sound too bad.

The rest of day feels like a blur. It was like one of those life montages, but happening in real time.

Henry takes him to all the major spots in the city, and Louis was more than happy to follow him everywhere.

They went to Times Square which was overwhelming with all the bodies and noise around them, but Louis could only focus on the fact Henry was holding his hand as he dragged him around.

Throughout the tour, Henry would make them stop and try street food even though Louis wasn’t even hungry, but he couldn’t say no to him. At the end Louis felt like his stomach was about to burst.

Henry brings him to different stores and sneakily buys him some souvenirs. Of course, Louis was not too happy about Henry spending money on him, especially the twenty-dollar shirt that had _‘I love NYC'_ on it.

“Did you see him H?! That man just belly-flopped onto the ice.” Louis giggles, while he discreetly points over to the poor guy that just fell in the middle of the rink.

Henry quickly slaps him on the shoulder. “Don’t be rude Louis,” he chastises, but a small smile was on his lips.

They were currently at the Wollman ice rink in Central Park, just casually skating next to each other. Since they both weren’t that confident in their skating skills they stuck close to the wall, but so far there hasn’t been any falls yet.

Louis sighs, his breath starting to show against the air. He looks up at the sky and watches the colors of the sunset beam over them.

“Do you prefer a sunset or sunrise?” Louis asks, skating a little to the side to prevent bumping into this couple who were holding hands.

Louis briefly wonders what would happen if he just grabbed Henry’s hand into his. Would he think it was weird or would he would latch on without hesitation?

“I’m more of a sunrise type of person,” Henry answers, interrupting his thoughts, which probably was for the best.

Louis turns his head to look at him. “Why?”

“I love watching the sun come out for the day. It’s usually the first thing I see when I wake up, and it always puts me in a good mood,” Henry explains as he skates a little slower. “Now don’t get me wrong, I do love a good sunset, but it’s bit depressing isn’t it?”

Louis frowns at him. “Why do you say that?”

Henry looks up at the sky, making his jaw accentuate further at this angle, making him look more unreal. “It’s like the sun performs one last beautiful show for us, and then takes all that warmth and light and disappears, leaving us in a curtain of darkness until the next day.”

Louis gets goosebumps from his words. The way he talks was so profound, even though he was still so young. Louis doesn’t understand how a man like this even exists.

“Mm, I’m not sure about that,” Louis pipes up. “We still have the moon. It might not be as bright as the sun, but it’s just as powerful. It lights up the darkest corners, and controls the tides. I especially love it because it means that it’s time for me to go to sleep.”

Henry startles him by letting out a loud cackle, which echoes around them. “Oops sorry,” he said muffled by his hand covering his mouth.

Louis reaches forward and removes his hand away from his face. “You’re fine. It was cute.”

Henry pulls his hand from Louis’s and frowns grumpily. “I am not cute. Shut up.”

Louis decides not to argue with him and instead bites his bottom lip to prevent his face from breaking out in a smile.

Once they were done skating, they exit the rink and Henry, like the gentleman he is, goes to return his and Louis’s ice skates.

Louis goes back to where they left their stuff, and works on putting back on his shoes.

As he’s tying his laces, he feels someone stop in front of him. Thinking it was Henry, a smile involuntarily spreads onto Louis’s face. “I’m honestly surprised no one took our shit.” Louis chuckles.

“Louis?”

Louis’s fingers stop moving. He knows that voice. That voice is the first thing he heard when he woke up every morning for 3 years straight. It was the same voice that said _I love you_ to him every night. It was the same voice that said yes to him when Louis asked him to marry him. It was the same voice that told him that he cheated on him not soon after.

Everything in him is telling him to not look up, but there was no avoiding this.

Louis takes a deep breath, and slowly raises his gaze to the man in front of him.

“Holy shit, it is you! I thought I was hallucinating when I saw you.”

An unpleasant tightness started to form in Louis’s chest. “Jack,” Louis said flatly.

Jack must sense the tension right away, as he awkwardly shifts from one foot to the other. “Um, hey Louis. I can’t believe it’s you.”

Louis straightens up his back, his mouth closed shut, not even attempting to act friendly.

When Louis doesn’t say anything, Jack continues. “What are you doing in New York?”

“Work.”

“Oh, is Princess Gemma here?” Jack asks.

“No.”

“So, why are you—”

“I can’t discuss it actually.” Louis' tone was terse, and he just hope’s Jack gets the message that he really doesn’t want to speak to him.

Unfortunately, Jack has always been oblivious. “Oh right. I forgot about how secretive your job can be.”

Louis doesn’t miss the subtle bitterness laced in his voice. No matter how many times Louis explained to him that he couldn’t talk about his job, Jack never understood it. He always hounded him with questions whenever Louis was even just a few minutes late getting home from work.

They had countless fights over it, and at the time Louis just thought Jack was being protective, but after, he realized how toxic and unhealthy that whole thing was.

“Look Jack, what do you want?” Louis asks, tired.

“I just came over because I wanted to talk to you, but it’s clear to me that you’re not in the mood to have a conversation right now.”

“Can you blame me?” Louis hisses. “Jack, when I said I never wanted to see you again that night, I _meant_ it.”

Jack brings his fingers up to his fringe, playing with the strands there. A nervous habit that Louis knows too well. “Come on Louis, you have to admit this is kind of insane right? I mean we haven’t seen each other in two years, and all of a sudden we run into each other in New York City on Valentine’s Day?”

Louis’s jaw clenches. “What are you trying to get at Jack?”

“Maybe the universe is trying to tell us something. Maybe our story isn’t over.”

An abrupt harsh laugh comes out of Louis’s mouth. “You’re fucking insane.” Louis stands up, grabs his and Henry’s stuff, and tries to dart out of there.

Before he can even take a step, Jack grabs him by the arm, preventing him from leaving. “Louis, please can we just talk?”

Louis easily yanks his arm out from his hold. “Don’t ever touch me again,” he warns.

Jack puts his hands up in defense. “I’m sorry, but Louis we should really talk things out.”

“What is there to talk about?!” His elevated voice was bringing attention from people around them. “We’re done Jack! Stop being so naïve! You cheated, end of story.”

“Lou?” Louis feels an arm wrap around his, and the gentle touch for reason immediately calms him down. “Is everything alright here?” Henry asks, his eyes actively avoiding the other man in front of them.

Louis turns his head to try to give him a reassuring smile, but it turns out to be more of a grimace. “Yeah, but we should get out of here.”

“Hi, I’m Jack,” Jack said, before they can leave. “Who are you?” His eyes were sizing up Henry, like he was some threat.

Louis uses his body to block Henry from his ex. “Jack—”

“I’m Henry.” Henry steps forward from behind Louis and sticks a hand forward. “I’m Louis’ boyfriend.”

Louis eyes widen with surprise, but then Henry discreetly puts a hand onto his lower back and rubs reassuring circles there. Suddenly getting what he was trying to do, Louis leans into the touch and plays along.

Jack ignores Henry’s attempt at a hand shake, and instead keeps his eyes focused on Louis. “Louis, come on. Let’s go talk in private yeah?”

Before Louis can even open his mouth, Henry cuts in. “I don’t think Louis wants to talk to you actually.”

“And I don’t think this is any of your business,” Jack spits back, his eyes now on Henry.

Louis watches as something flares up in Henry’s eyes. “I’m sorry who are you again?”

“I’m his ex, actually. We were engaged.”

“Oh right. Louis told me about you.” A smug look makes its way on Henry’s face, and Louis is interested on what he’s going to say next. “You’re the asshole who cheated on him right?”

Jack’s jaw clenches, clearly not expecting Henry to be so straight forward. “Right, well I think I should go,” he mumbles before scurrying away, leaving behind a shocked Louis and what looks to be a somewhat proud Henry.

“Well, that was entertaining,” Henry said casually, before turning back to Louis. “I’m sorry, if I overstepped there. I just thought you needed an out from that situation.”

Once Louis is over the shock of it all, he shakes his head. “Um, no, you really helped me out actually. Thank you.”

“It’s no problem.” Henry smiles kindly. “Let’s go take a quick walk through the park before it gets dark.”

Louis nods and follows the younger man.

The sun was setting, it was starting to get cold, and Louis's feet were throbbing, but he honestly didn’t want this day to end.

Being with Henry felt freeing, and made him feel light. It almost reminded Louis of the time when he was six and his dad took him to his first ever football match. He just remembers feeling so overwhelmingly happy, and that’s what he’s feeling right now as he walks beside Henry through Central Park.

They’ve been walking for a few minutes now, talking about the day and recapping everything they’ve done.

Henry starts to complain about his feet so he leads them to a nearby bench so they can rest for a minute.

“Maybe if you didn’t wear those boots, you would have been fine,” Louis teases even though his own feet are screaming to get out of his shoes.

“They match the outfit, so it was worth it.” Henry sighs as he sits down and rubs at his feet.

Louis softly chuckles, taking a seat beside him. It was a small bench so Louis had to squeeze himself in, causing the sides of their arms to touch.

They sit without speaking for a moment, letting the sounds of nature fill the silence.

“So, do you want to talk about it?” Henry asks.

Louis sighs, knowing exactly what he was talking about. “There’s not much to say really.”

“If you don’t want to talk about him, we don’t have to. I just thought you would like to get some stuff off your chest.”

This man was too good for this world.

Louis stares out in front of him and focuses on the large tree towering over them. “That was Jack. He was my boyfriend for three years, until I asked him to marry me. It was great at first. We were excited and happy to start a new chapter of our lives together.” Louis pauses when his voice hitches with emotion. He clears his throat before continuing. “But then a mate of mine told me he saw Jack with another guy at some bar, and they were kissing.”

Henry winces the same time Louis cringes as he says it out loud.

“I confronted him about it, and Jack was always a shit liar so I clocked him right away.” Louis wrings his hands together. “I ended things right there. I took all my stuff and moved in with my best mate. That was the last time I saw Jack, until today of course.”

“Shit, I’m so sorry Louis.” Henry puts a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s okay. I’m just glad I didn’t marry the guy.”

“Yeah, you saved some money there,” Henry said, making the mood lighter. “Did you ever get the engagement ring back?”

“I did, but I was so pissed that I threw it in the Thames.”

Henry laughs, his gaze pointed to the sky. “Why am I not surprised by that?”

Louis smiles, closed mouth, and watches the branches sway against the wind, focusing on the sound of the rustling leaves.

“For a long time after that, I tried to think of what I did wrong,” Louis admits. “Maybe if I did something different, then he wouldn’t have gone out and found someone else.”

Henry snaps his neck to look back at him. “Do not blame yourself for his actions.” His voice filled with passion. “There is never an excuse for cheating. He’s a fucking dumbass for even going after someone else when he already had you.”

A warm feeling spreads over Louis’s chest at Henry’s words. “Henry I—”

“Like it doesn’t make any sense!” Henry was getting visibly more upset. “He had this amazing future laid out with you, and then he just goes and decides to ruin it? I’m just so mad that he actually had the privilege of experiencing what it was like to be with you. Someone like him doesn’t deserve that.”

Louis watches Henry cross his arms in front of him with a slight pout on his face, and it just makes him look more cute. “H, it’s okay. I’m over it by now. But you’re right, I do deserve better.”

“You do Lou,” Henry said with fire in his eyes. “You deserve so much better than that prick.”

Louis smiles softly. “Thank you.”

“Can I…Can I give you a hug?” Henry asks, hesitantly.

The question throws Louis off for a second. “Um, sure.”

As soon as those words come out of his mouth, Henry pounces on him and wraps his arms around Louis, tightly.

Louis was taken aback by the sudden contact, but he quickly relaxes into the embrace, wrapping his own arms around the taller man.

It felt safe. That is the word Louis would use to describe what it was like to hug Henry, and he honestly could stay here all day.

The moment is interrupted by Louis’s ringtone. Louis reluctantly retracts from the hug pulls out his phone, and sees that it was Gemma calling him.

Louis clears his throat. “Um, I’ll be right back. I need to take this.”

Once Henry told him it was okay, Louis walks a couple feet away just to make sure Henry couldn’t hear him.

“Hello?” he said in a hushed tone.

“Hey Lou,” Gemma answers.

“Hi, Gems. What’s wrong?” Louis asks, wondering why Gemma was calling so late.

“Why are you assuming something is wrong?”

“Because it’s one am in England right now,” Louis tells her. “Why are you still up?”

“Oh, uh I didn’t even notice.” Gemma clears her throat. “I had a long day, and just wanted to talk to you.”

Louis softens. “What happened?”

“They were preparing me for my grandmother’s death.”

 _Shit._ Louis closes his eyes briefly.

“They even brought in a grief counselor.” Gemma laughs, harshly. “She’s not even gone yet and these people are already stressing me out.”

“I’m sorry Gemma. I wish I could do something to help.”

“You are.” Louis hears Gemma sniffling, making him feel the need to comfort her. “How’s it going with that Sullivan guy anyway?”

Louis looks back to see if Henry was still there, and finds him sitting where he left him, looking at something on his phone. “I’m actually here with him right now. I spent the whole day with him.”

“Really? So, did you find out anything?”

Louis lazily kicks at a stick, making it hit the side if the tree. “Um, not really no.”

“You’ve been spending all this time with him, yet you haven’t found anything? What are you waiting for?”

Louis could hear the impatience in Gemma’s voice and he doesn’t blame her. “I’ve been trying to be subtle with my questioning. I just don’t want to scare him off.”

“I understand that Lou and I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, but you need to speed it up a bit. You’ve been focusing all your time on this Henry guy, but what if he’s actually not Harry and the real Harry is still out there somewhere.” Gemma pauses to let out sigh. “I just don’t want you wasting your time.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Louis pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’ll start pushing him for answers soon. If it’s not him, I’ll move on. I promise.”

“Okay, sorry for being a pain in the arse by the way.”

“It’s okay, I’m used to being yelled at by you.”

Gemma chuckles. “Yeah whatever.” She hangs up.

Louis pockets his phone and stares at the ground beneath him. He knows Gemma had a point. He couldn’t just keep spending his days with Henry like this, no matter how much he was enjoying himself.

“Sorry about that. That was—” Louis stops midsentence when he walks back and looks at the scene before him.

Henry looks up at him and smiles. “Lou, look it’s snowing!”

There was snow falling gently onto Henry’s hair and onto his flower crown, as he sits there with his bright smile and eyes focused on the sky. The light from the street light above them, created a nice glow on Henry’s skin, making him look ethereal.

“Lou? Is everything okay?” Henry asks, probably wondering why Louis was still standing there, silent.

Louis clears his throat, and snaps out if it. “Yeah, just needed to clarify a few things with my boss,” Louis explains vaguely. “You ready to start walking back?”

Henry groans. “My feet still hurt though.”

“Well, I’m sorry princess, it’s not my fault you wore those damn boots. Now get off your arse before we freeze out here.”

Henry begrudgingly gets up and starts walking beside Louis. They take it slow, so Henry doesn’t whine every time he takes a step.

Louis is tempted to ask him if he wanted him to carry him, but he didn’t think that would be appropriate.

The sky was darker than when they got there, and the moon was starting to peak from the clouds. The snow was coming down softly, barely staying on the ground before melting.

They’re passing one of those street vendors who seemed to be packing up for the day. Louis spots a lonely bouquet of pink roses, and thought that it was a shame no one was going to buy them

“Excuse me.” Louis stops, to talk to the man. “How much for the flowers?”

“Ten dollars.”

Louis takes out his wallet and hands him the cash in exchange for the flowers. “Thank you, sir. Have a good night!” Louis says, before rejoining Henry who was waiting for him.

“Those are gorgeous flowers,” Henry comments, observing the bouquet in his hands.

“They are, aren’t they?” Louis looks at the flowers and then looks back up at Henry. “Here, they’re for you.”

“Oh, Lou you don’t have to.”

“Just think of this as a thank you gift for touring me around the city today.” Louis places the bouquet in Henry’s hands. “And plus saving me from my ex.”

Henry brings the flowers up to his nose to give them a sniff. “Thank you, Lou. This was very nice of you.”

Louis just shrugs his shoulders, bashfully.

They continue their walk, in a comfortable silence for the rest of the way. Louis gets a little disappointed when he sees the road in the distance, meaning this day was about to be over.

Louis stutters in his steps when Henry sticks a single rose in front of him. When Louis looks up, he finds Henry staring at him expectantly. “H, I bought those for you.”

“And I’m giving you one. This is my Valentine’s gift for you.”

Louis was about to turn him down again, but relents when he sees the smile on his face. “Re-gifting my gift right in front of me. How cheap,” Louis teases, but takes the rose anyways.

Henry fills the park with his laughter, and Louis wishes he could bottle up the sound and take it with him.

“So, do you have a Valentine back home?” Henry asks.

Louis shakes his head. “Nope, and I’m guessing you don’t have one either since you spent the day with me.”

“I don’t, and why do you sound like spending the day with you is a bad thing? I had a great time.” Henry assures him. “It’s better than what I had originally planned.”

“What did you originally have planned?”

“Watching rom-coms all day and drinking plenty of glasses of wine. Probably end my night with a sad wank and call it a day.”

Louis chuckles, trying to distract himself from the incoming images of Henry wanking. “I don’t know, that sounds like a decent day to me.”

They unfortunately have made it to the edge of the street, ending their time together for the night.

Henry is about to open the passenger side for him, but Louis tells him he’s just going to catch a cab back to the hotel, not wanting Henry to go out of his way to drop him off.

“Are you sure?” Henry asks, once more.

“Yes, I’ll be okay,” Louis insists. “I’m a big boy you know.”

Henry bites his lip in hesitation before conceding. “Okay, fine but I’m going to wait until you get a car.”

So, they wait until Louis successfully manages to hail a cab and it stops right in front of them.

“What are you doing tomorrow night?” Henry asks just before Louis gets in.

“Um, nothing why?”

“Do you want to have dinner at mine? I know hotel food is good and all but no one makes a better pasta dish than me,” Henry said with pride.

“Oh, so you’re a fashion designer, tour guide, and now a chef. What can’t you do Sullivan?”

“I guess you’re just going to have to stay and find out.” Henry walks back to his car and throws a wink over his shoulder.

Louis smiles after him, looking down at the flower in his hand.

_I wish I could._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that very sweet and fluff filled chapter.  
> If you're enjoying this story so far, leave a kudos and PLEASE leave some comments down below! I love hearing your guy's feedback. 
> 
> Hope ya'll have a good week! See you next Friday!
> 
> -DJN  
> Follow me on Twitter @LTHSFICS for updates or if you just want to chat!


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